p 


THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


k*c  ^ Tj 


? 


329 


^ p 


■:WA^ 


NATIONAL  CAPITAL,  WASHINGTON, 


MEN  AND  ISSUES 

OF  ’92. 

A GRAND  NATIONAL  PORTRAIT  GALLERY 

CONTAINING 

PHOTOGRAPHS 

OF  LEADING  MEN  OF  ALL  PARTIES; 

WITH  A FULL  AND  FAIR  PRESENTATION  OF  THE 

GREAT  NATIONAL  QUESTIONS 
OF  THE  DAY 


PROTECTION— FREE  TRADE— THE  McKINLEY  BILL— RECI- 
PROCITY—THE  SILVER  QUESTION— BI-METALISM, 
MONO-METALISM,  ETC. 


ALSO  THE  LIVES  OF 

REPUBLICAN  AND  DEMOCRATIC 

CANDIDATES  FOR 

PRESIDENT  AND  VICE-PRESIDENT, 

WITH  NATIONAL  PLATFORMS. 


BY  JAMES  P.  BOYD,  A.  M., 

Author  op  thb  Lives  of  “Grant,”  “Sherman”  and  “Sheridan.” 


PUBLISHERS  UNION. 

1892. 


Q 

. B <3  9>m 


w 


«5 

>- 

o 


INTRODUCTORY. 


o 


A National  Election  in  a Republic  of  forty-four  States, 
embracing  well  nigh  65,000,000  freemen,  is  imposing  as  a 
spectacle  and  momentous  as  an  event.  All  the  world  looks 
upon  it  with  curious  eyes  and  anxiously  awaits  its  results. 

In  the  almost  magical  evolution  of  new  ideas  and  in  the 
bewildering  whirl  of  events  which  characterize  American 
progress,  a short  four-year  term  of  political  administration 
serves  to  fix  the  date,  if  it  does  not  establish  the  necessity, 
for  a grand  National  audit. 

The  questions  which  spring  spontaneously  from  a rich 
loam  of  thought,  or  which  grow  and  shape  under  the  gar- 
dening hand  of  statesmen,  organizations  and  political  par- 
ties, and  which  do  not,  or  cannot,  find  solution  in  regular 
legislation,  are  naturally  and  properly  crowded  over  into  the 
campaign  year.  They  are  carried,  as  it  were,  by  popular 
appeal  into  the  high  court  of  the  people,  where  final  hearing 
and  arbitrament  is  sought  as  in  a tribunal  of  last  resort. 

The  American  people,  by  virtue  of  intelligence,  patriotism 
and  sense  of  responsibility,  do  not  shrink  from  the  grave 
duty  of  hearing  and  judging  what  has  thus  been  referred 
to  them.  Indeed,  they  regard  the  electoral  privilege  as 
their  one  glorious  opportunity,  and  the  year  of  a National 
campaign  is  to  them  a year  of  anxious  inquiry,  quickened 
perception,  keen  mental  excitement,  strenuous  exertion  and 
not  a little  hurly  burly.  This  is  entirely  as  it  should  be.  It 

(5) 


6 


INTRODUCTORY. 


is  highly  creditable  to  them  as  factors  of  the  body  politic 
and  as  judges  in  an  august  tribunal.  Nothing  so  intensifies 
the  interest  in  and  exalts  the  importance  of  a National  cam- 
paign and  nothing  so  sanctifies  its  results  to  every  partic- 
ipant. 

What  more  noticeable  to  even  the  careless  observer  than 
the  fact  that  each  National  campaign  opens  a series  of  ques- 
tions which  come  down  closer  and  closer  to  the  people  and 
touch  more  and  more  deeply  their  very  pockets,  personal 
comfort  and  general  welfare,  and  just  in  the  same  propor- 
tion the  people,  responsive  as  an  electric  current,  rise  to  the 
discussion  and  study  of  those  questions,  broaden  their 
reasons  to  new  situations  and  throw  their  hearts  into  succes- 
sive campaigns  and  elections.  A vote  to-day  is  fuller  of 
significance  than  ever  before. 

No  sight  is  more  sublime  than  that  of  12,000,000  of 
voters  wrestling  with  the  problems  that  concern  their  dinner 
pails  and  contents,  their  hats  and  coats,  their  daily  wages, 
their  home  productions,  the  worth  of  their  dollars.  Nor  is 
there  anything  so  inspiring  to  honorable  citizenship  or  more 
hopeful  for  the  perpetuity  and  progress  of  the  Republic  than 
the  thought  that  each  voter  feels  that  his  destiny  is  in  his 
own  keeping  and  that  he  is  at  liberty  to  shape  it  as  he  will. 

It  is  just  as  noticeable  and  as  much  of  a fact  that  as  these 
questions  descend  toward  the  people  at  large  and  they  rise 
to  meet  them,  the  old  fashioned  partisan  narrowness  and 
party  bitterness  of  the  National  campaign  give  place  to  a 
more  genial  and  liberal  spirit.  Fanaticism  yields  to  toler- 
ance ; denunciation  to  discussion  ; bigotry  to  patient  hearing. 
Blind  partyism  merges  in  the  greater  problems  of  general 
welfare  and  National  honor.  A campaign  year  may  still  be 
one  of  excitement  and  enthusiasm.  Political  waves  may 
run  high  and  dash  about  furiously.  But  these  are  no 


INTRODUCTORY. 


7 


longer  devastating.  Their  roar  is  not  a menace  to  peace; 
Their  clash  does  not  mean  destruction.  They  speedily  dis- 
solve in  the  great  sea  of  tolerance  and  the  spirit  of  liberal- 
ity broods  o’er  the  deep. 

Never  in  all  our  political  history  has  the  National  cam- 
paign year  brought  broader,  deeper  and  more  pervading 
questions  down  closer  to  the  people.  There  is  not  an  issue 
that  does  not  touch  a vital  spot  in  what  most  concerns  the 
masses.  Parties  may  proclaim  and  plead,  politicians  may 
conjure  and  manipulate,  but  the  questions  are  pre-eminently 
of  and  for  the  people.  They  are  questions  of  economy, 
home,  family,  labor,  food,  clothing,  personal  rights,  money. 
They  will  make  of  the  campaign  a school  of  education,  and 
the  school  will  swarm  with  interested  and  enthusiastic 
scholars,  all  intent  on  knowing  what  is  best  for  their  com- 
fort and  prosperity. 

This  work  has  been  written  with  a view  of  providing  a 
text-book  for  the  scholars  in  the  universal  school  of  the 
National  campaign.  It  has  been  made  broad  and  full,  so  as 
to  embrace  the  questions  that  press  for  solution  and  present 
them  without  reference  to  preconceived  notions  or  partisan 
leanings.  It  regards  the  entire  mass  of  voters,  all  the  people, 
as  scholars,  and  endeavors  to  simplify  for  them  the  lessons 
presented  by  the  campaign,  no  matter  to  what  party  they 
belong.  It  presumes  that  the  seriousness  of  the  questions, 
their  intimacy  with  every  personal  concern,  the  immense  in- 
fluence their  decision  will  have  upon  the  enjoyment  and 
prosperity  of  the  citizen  and  voter,  demands  for  them  im- 
partial consideration,  and  that  every  one  will  be  glad  of  the 
opportunity  to  consider  them  in  their  historic  rather  than 
in  their  limited  party  bearings. 

The  mission  of  the  ordinary  campaign  book  passed  with 
the  era  of  narrow  and  bitter  partisanship  and  with  the  com- 


8 


INTRODUCTORY. 


ing  down  to  the  voter  of  the  very  class  of  questions  which 
distinguish  the  National  election  of  this  year.  The  time, 
the  duty  to  be  performed,  the  character  of  the  issues,  require 
that  full,  dispassionate  and  historic  presentation  which  we 
have  aimed  at.  We  have  striven  to  be  plain  even  to  the 
level  of  the  commonest  understanding.  We  have  sought 
to  enlighten  generally,  leaving  the  result  entirely  to  the 
reader  and  trusting  entirely  to  his  judgment  as  to  what  is 
best  for  him  in  a political  and  party  sense,  after  he  is  in- 
formed in  a general  sense. 

The  subjects  amplified  in  the  above  spirit  are  Free-trade, 
Protection,  Silver  Coinage,  Tariff  Legislation,  the  new  policy 
of  Reciprocity,  all  of  which  are  championed  or  opposed  by 
statesmen,  legislators  and  party  leaders,  whom  it  is  desirable 
to  see  and  to  know  better.  They  are  given  a place  in  the 
book,  with  their  biographies.  Excellent  photographs  of 
nearly  one  hundred  of  them  are  presented,  greatly  adding 
to  the  worth  and  beauty  of  the  book. 

In  accordance  with  the  design  of  the  book  a large  space 
is  devoted  to  biographies  of  the  National  Candidates. 
These  biographies  are  full  and  complete  and  are  accom- 
panied by  excellent  portraits  of  their  subjects. 

Valuable  tabular  and  historic  matter  relating  to  former 
Presidential  elections  are  given  and  add  much  to  the 
value  of  a work  devised  in  the  interest  of,  and  written 
plainly  and  carefully  for,  a people  who  have  in  their  hands, 
on  the  momentous  occasion  of  a National  election,  the 
choice  of  their  Chief  Magistrate  for  a period  of  four  years, 
and  the  decision  of  measures  which  intimately  concern  their 
welfare  and  may  affect  their  prosperity  and  happiness  for  all' 
time.  The  consciousness  that  such  a work  is  timely  and 
will  have  a high  mission  has  greatly  lightened  the  labor  of 
preparing  it. 


CONTENTS 


i. 

CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 

Outline  of  the  Situation — Satisfactory  Outlook — No  Novel 
Issues — No  Personalism — Partisanship  at  a Discount — An 
Active  and  Laborious  Campaign — Absence  of  Pyrotechnics 
— The  “School-House”  Plan — Printing  Press  and  Club 
Room — A Full  and  Deliberate  Verdict — The  Tariff  as 
an  Issue — Principle  of  Protection  and  Free-Trade — 
Tariff  of  1883 — Tidal  Wave  of  1882-83 — Attitude  of  Par- 
ties— The  “Morrison  Bill”  — Cleveland’s  Inaugural — 
Randall’s  Position — Sentiment  in  1886 — An  Issue  Needed 
for  1888 — Cleveland’s  Tariff  Reform  Message — Demo- 
cratic Commitment — Party  Lines  Distinctly  Drawn — The 
Mills  Bill — Campaign  of  1888  — Tariff  of  1890 — Tidal 
Wave  of  1890  — Carlisle’s  Review  of  the  Situation — 
Mills  and  Crisp — The  “Divide  and  Conquer”  Plan — 
Elections  of  1891-92 — Their  Meaning — The  Tariff  Issue 
a Square  One — Free  Silver  Coinage — Attitude  of  the 
Two  Parties — Opinion  of  Henry  Cabot  Lodge — The  Farm- 
ers’ Alliance — Greenback  and  Free  Silver  Parties — The 
Bland  Bill— Warner  Silver  Bill — The  Silver  Question 
in  Party  Platforms — Cleveland’s  Silver  Position— Silver 
Act  of  1890 — Drift  of  Democracy  Toward  Free  Silver — 
The  Republican  Attitude — Demands  of  the  Alliance — 
The  Silver  Miners — A Free  Ballot — The  Force  Bill — 

The  “Billion  Dollar  Congress”  — The  “Nickel  Con- 
gress”— Opinions  of  Political  Leaders  . . . .17 


(9) 


IO 


CONTENTS. 


ii. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 

Definition  of  Free-Trade — Principle  of  a Tariff — Early  Free- 
Traders — Tariff  for  Revenue — Tariff  Reform — Politics 
confuses  Terms — The  English  Idea — Old  and  New  Theo- 
ries— Law  as  to  Capital — As  to  Labor — Productiveness 
and  Labor — Increased  Price — Doctrine  of  “ Laissez  Faire  ” 
— Protection  Iniquitous  — Class  Taxation — Diminished 
Labor — Wrong  of  the  Custom  House — Division  of  Labor 
— Aggregate  of  Labor — Diversified  Industry  — Produce 
for  Produce — Value  of  Free  Competition — Facility  of 
Exchanges — Diminution  of  Labor — Capital  and  Employ- 
ment— Independence  of  Foreigners — Free-Trade  in  Poli- 
tics— Tariff  a Tax — Monopolies  and  Trusts — Views  of 
Gladstone  and  Patrick  Henry — Protection  invokes  Wars 
— England  Repudiated  her  own  Protection  Laws — 
Reaches  Free-Trade — Views  of  Wells,  Taussig,  Robert 
Peel,  Jackson,  Rowan,  Dallas  — Protection  Leads  to 
Smuggling — Comparison  of  Free-Trade  and  Protection 
Eras — Views  of  Buchanan,  Lloyd,  Garfield — Smith — Free- 
Trade  Era  of  1850  to  i860  one  of  Prosperity  . 

HI. 

DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

Principle  not  in  Doubt — Practiced  by  all  Nations — Neces- 
sary to  Commercial  Supremacy — For  Industrial  and 
Manufacturing  Independence — Protection  Unites  Art  and 
Nature — Protective  and  Revenue  Tariffs — Revenue  Du- 
ties Fall  on  Necessaries — Protective  Duties  Fall  on 
Competitive  Articles — Rate  and  Adjustment  of  Protective 
Duties— Prohibitory  Rates — Essence  of  Labor  in  Pro- 
ducts— Per  Cent,  of  Labor — Application  of  Protection 
to  Labor — Effect  of  Protection  on  Labor — Protection 
does  not  Increase  Cost  to  Consumer — Competition  Regu- 
lates Cost — Encouragement  to  Capital — To  Invention — 
More  and  Better  Goods— Tariff  for  Protection  not  a 
Tax— Producers  Pay  the  Duty — Sentiment  in  Bradford — 


CONTENTS. 


ii 


Opinions  of  List,  Smith,  Mill — Advantage  of  Protection 
to  Agricultural  Communities — “The  American  System” — 
Opinions  of  Washington,  Madison,  Jefferson,  Taussig — 
American  Conditions — European  Conditions — Protection 
Cures  Monopoly — Gives  Competing  Power  Abroad — Reve- 
nue Tariff  a Tax — Doctrine  of  Natural  Right — Duty  of 
Development — Use  of  Natural  Gifts — Our  Own  Econom- 
ics — Absolute  Cheapness  not  Desirable  — Protection 
does  not  Tend  to  Overproduction — Protection  since  i86i 
— Carey’s  Deductions  — Uses  to  Farmers — Free  “ Raw 
Material”  — Protection  not  for  Privileged  Classes — 
Does  not  Contribute  to  Great  Fortunes — Nor  to  Trusts 
— Tends  to  Fairer  Profits — Our  Material  Growth  . . 96 

IV. 

OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 

English  Colonial  System  — The  Confederation  and  Free- 
Trade — The  Constitution  and  Imposts — Tariff  Act  of 
1789 — Protective  Era — Embargo  and  Tariff  of  1812 — 
High  Protective  Era — Act  of  1816 — Disasters  of  1817-19 
— Act  of  1824  and  the  “American  System” — Attitude  of 
Parties — Act  of  1828 — Hostility  to  It  and  Compromise 
Act  of  1833 — Nullification — Panic  of  1837 — Protective 
Rates  of  1842 — Repealing  Act  of  1846 — Effect  of  Mexi- 
can War,  Discovery  of  Gold,  Foreign  Wars  and  Famines 
— Tariff  Act  of  1857 — Panic  of  1857 — Protective  Act  of 
1861 — Effect  of  Civil  War — Panic  of  1873  and  Act  of 
1874 — The  Tariff  Commission  and  Tariff  of  1883 — The 
Morrison  Bill — The  Mills  Bill — Tariff  Act  of  1890 — 
Policy  of  Reciprocity — Tariff  Legislation  in  1892 — Tariff 
Sentiment  Abroad — Lord  Salisbury’s  Views — Tariff  Fig- 
ures   .....  124 

« 

v. 

THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

Importance  of  the  Question,  “What  is  Money? — Kinds  of 
Money — Money  Values — Money  Systems — American  Coin- 


12 


CONTENTS. 


age — First  Coinage  Act — Gold  and  Silver  Values — Rea- 
sons for  a Change — Coinage  Act  of  1834— Mistaken  Ra- 
tios—Silver  Monometallized — “ Gresham’s  Law  ” — “ Mint 
Act”  of  1837— Coinage  Act  of  1849— Effects  of  the  Dis- 
covery of  Gold— Alarm  of  the  Commercial  World — Our 
“ Legal  Tender  Acts  ” — Resumption  of  the  Coinage  Act 
of  1873— Silver  Demonetized— The  “Trade  Dollar”  of 
1876 — Extent  of  Coinage  to  1878— Coinage  Act  of  1878— 
Free  and  Unlimited  Coinage  System— Restoration  of  the 
Silver  Dollar— Coinage  Act  of  1890— What  it  Did— The 
Proposed  Free  Coinage  Act  of  1892— What  it  Seeks— 
Compared  with  other  Acts — Mint  Figures — How  to  Figure 
Silver  Ratios  and  Values 193 


VI. 

RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 

General  View  of  Reciprocity — Commercial  Treaties — “Most 
Favored  Nation”  Clause — Reciprocity  and  the  American 
Republics — Modern  Commercial  Era — Escape  from  Eu- 
ropean Dominion — The  “ Monroe  Doctrine  ” — Prophecy  of 
John  Adams — The  International  Conference — Report  on 
Reciprocity — Blaine’s  Review  and  Recommendation — Reci- 
procity and  Tariff  Act  of  1890 — Second  Stage  of  Reci- 
procity— Acceptance  by  Foreign  Nations — Effect  upon 
Commercial  Relations — General  View  of  its  Operations  . 261 


VII. 

ELECTORAL  AND  POPULAR  VOTES. 

Electoral  Vote  for  1888  by  States — The  Popular  Vote — 
Vote  by  States  in  1884— The  Electoral  Vote — The  Popu- 
lar Vote — The  Electoral  College  in  all  Presidential 
Years — Candidates  and  Parties — Disputed  Elections — 

The  Effect  of  the  Twelfth  Amendment — Votes  for  Each 
Candidate — The  Popular  Vote — When  Popular  Vote  Be- 
gan to  be  Counted—  As  Cast  for  Each  Candidate — Valua- 
ble and  Interesting  Data 342 


CONTENTS. 


13 


VIII. 

LIFE  OF  BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 

Parentage  and  Early  Life — At  College — A Law  Student — 
Marriage — At  the  Indianapolis  Bar — Rise  in  his  Profes- 
sion— Partnerships  — In  the  Army  — Colonel  of  70TH 
Indiana — With  Hooker’s  “Fighting  Corps” — On  to  At- 
lanta— A Brigade  Commander — At  Dalton — The  Bloody 
Battle  of  Resaca — At  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  Atlanta — 

A Full  Brigadier — At  Nashville  with  Thomas — Return 
to  Political  Life — Candidate  for  Governor — Election  to 
U.  S.  Senate — Tariff  Measures  of  1883 — Victory  over 
Voorhees — Position  on  “Civil  Service” — The  Anti-“ Chi- 
nese Bill” — Coin  and  Currency  Question  — Land  and 
Labor  Question — High  Rank  as  Senator — Hard  Campaign 
of  1886 — Reverses  the  Democratic  Majority  in  the  State 
— Again  at  the  Bar — At  Home — Family  and  Domestic  Re- 
lations— Political  Situation  in  1888 — The  Chicago  Con- 
vention— Attitude  of  Factions — Blaine’s  Position — Harri- 
son’s Nomination — Splendid  Party  Indorsement — Triumph- 
ant Election — Cabinet  and  Policy — Harrison’s  Adminis- 
tration— Splendid  Foreign  Policy — The  Italian  Affair — 

The  Chilian  Imbroglio — Behring  Sea  and  the  Seals — 
Wisdom  of  Appointments — Travels  and  Public  Speeches 
— Masterly  Messages — Shaping  Lines  for  1892 — Blaine’s 
Letter  to  Clarkson — Harrison’s  Popularity  in  the  Coun- 
try— His  Clean,  Able  Administration — Confidence  of  all 
Business  and  Commercial  Interests — The  Minneapolis  Con- 
vention— Blaine’s  Resignation  from  State  Department — 
Strength  in  Convention  — The  Balloting  — Nomination 
for  Second  Term — Overwhelming  Approval  of  Nomina- 
tion-Acceptance— Platform  of  1892 353 


IX. 

LIFE  OF  HON.  WHITELAW  REID. 

Birth  and  Education — Teacher — Editor  of  Xenia  “ News  ” — 
Newspaper  Correspondent — War  Correspondent — Author — 
Managing  Editor  New  York  “Tribune” — Editor-in-Chief 
— Offered  German  Mission  by  Hayes  and  Garfield — Minis- 
ter to  France — Nomination  for  Vice- Presidency  . . 509 


14 


CONTENTS. 


X. 

LIFE  AND  SERVICES  OF  EX-PRESIDENT  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

Lineage  and  Birth — Early  Life — A Student  and  Teacher — 
Bound  for  the  West — A Clerk  and  Law  Student — Admis- 
sion to  Bar — Career  as  a Lawyer — Elected  Sheriff — 
Reforms  in  Office — Elected  Mayor — A Vigorous  Adminis- 
tration— Nomination  for  Governor — Great  Popularity— 
Character  of  the  Opposition — Phases  of  the  Campaign — 
Overwhelming  Victory — Idol  of  the  Masses — His  Gu- 
bernatorial Administration — Appointments  and  Vetoes — 
Executive  Habits — National  Convention  of  1884 — Nomina- 
tion for  President — Political  Situation — Campaign  of  1884 
— The  Doubtful  Ground — Triumphant  Election — View  of 
his  Splendid  Administration — His  Messages  and  Measures 
— Cabinet  Officers — The  Man  and  his  Methods — His 
Marriage — Convention  of  1888 — The  Celebrated  Message 
of  1887 — Renomination  by  Acclamation — Campaign  of  1888 
— The  Drift  of  Sentiment — Defeat  and  its  Causes — In 
Private  Life — At  his  Profession — Traits  of  Character — 
Interest  in  Public  Affairs — Popularity  with  the  Masses 
— Pointers  for  ’92 — Convention  of  1892 — Character  of 
Opposition — A Winner  from  the  Start — The  Logical 
Candidate — Details  of  Chicago  Convention — Placed  in 
Nomination — Splendid  Marshalling  of  his  Forces — First 
and  only  Ballot — Renomination  made  Unanimous — Full 
Text  of  Platform — Reception  of  the  News — Sentiment 
of  Press  and  People — A Splendid  Nomination  . . . 521 

XL 

LIFE  OF  HON.  ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 

Birth,  Parentage  and  Education — Legal  Career — In  Politics 
— A Campaignist — District  Attorney — Congressional  Cam- 
paigns— Career  in  Congress — Strength  with  the  People — 
Standing  at  the  Bar — Appearance  and  Home  Life — Assist- 
ant Postmaster-General — Official  Methods — Industry  and 
Popularity — The  Contest  at  Chicago — Nomination  by 
Acclamation — Reception  of  the  News — Strength  of  the 
Nomination 64  3 


HALF-TONE  PHOTOGRAPHS. 


PAGE 

The  Capitoe  at  Wash- 
ington . . Frontispiece . 
Hon.  Leon  Abbett  ...  19 
Hon.  N.  W.  Aedrich  . .122 
Gen.  Russeee  Aeger  . . 380 
Hon.  John  B.  Aeeen  . . 32 
Hon.  Wm.  B.  Aeeison  . . 367 
Hon.  Thos.  F.  Bayard  . 548 
Hoh.  Chas.  E.  Beeknap  . 33 
Hon.  Jas.  G.  Beaine  . . 358 
Hon.  Richard  P.  Beand  253 
Hon.  Horace  Boies  . . 52 
Hon.  W.  C.  Breckinridge  532 
Hon.  Caevin  S.  Brice  . .218 
Hon.  W.  J.  Bryan  ...  61 
Hon.  M.  C.  Buteer  . . 67 
Hon.  Wiekinson  Caee  . 74 
Hon.  James  E.  Campbeee  128 
Hon.  Jos.  M.  Carey  . . 80 
Hon.  John  G.  CareiseE  . 620 
Hon.  Leyman  R.  Casey  . 81 
Hon.  Wm.  E.  Chandeer  . 87 


PAGS 

Hon.  Grover  Ceeveeand  525 
Hon.  W.  B.  Cochran  . . 94 

Hon.  Chas.  F.  Crisp  . . 629 
Hon.  D.  B.  Cueberson  . 224 
Hon.  Sheeby  M.  Cueeom  109 
Hon.  John  Daezeee  . .115 
Hon.  Henry  L.  Dawes  . 402 
Hon.  C.  M.  Depew  . . .418 
Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson  614 
Hon.  Jos.  N.  Doeph  . . 135 
Hon.  Fred.  F.  Dubois  . 142 
Hon.  S.  B.  Eekins  . . . 439 
Hon.  Wm.  C.  Endicott  . 585 
Hon.  Chas.  S.  Fairchied  554 
Hon.  J.  B.  Foraker  . . 492 
Hon.  Chas.  Foster  . . 433 
Hon.  Wm.  P.  Frye  . . . 374 
Hon.  Aug.  H.  Gareand  . 576 
Hon.  James  Z.  George  . 148 
Hon.  Randaee  L.  Gibson  157 
Hon.  Nathan  Goff  . . 163 
Hon.  John  B.  Gordon  . 170 
(i5) 


l6 


HALF-TONE  PHOTOGRAPHS. 


PAGE 

Hon.  Arthur  P.  Gorman  651 
Hon.  Isaac  P.  Gray  . .129 
Hon.  Isham  G.  Harris  . 176 
Hon.  Benj.  Harrison  . . 352 
Hon.  M.  D.  Harter  . .177 
Hon.  Jos*  R.  Hawley  . . 501 
Hon.  Anthony  Higgins  . 183 
Hon.  David  B.  Hide  . . 598 

Hon.  James  K.  Jones  . . 190 
Hon.  John  E.  Kenna  . . 196 
Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar  . . 563 
Hon.  Robt.  T.  Lincoln  . 205 
Hon.  John  Lind  . . . .211 
Hon.  Henry  Cabot 

Lodge 389 

Hon.  Wm.  McKinley,  Jr.  ioo 
Hon.  James  McMillan  . 225 
Hon.  John  R.  McPherson  231 
Hon.Chas.  F.  Manderson  238 
Hon.  W.  H.  H.  Miller  . 244 
Hon.  R.  Q.  Mills  . . . 635 
Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton  . . 485 
Hon.  John  W.  Noble  . . 452 
Hon.  John  M.  Palmer  . 307 
Hon.  Robt.  E.  Pattison  266 
Hon.  W.  A.  Peeeer  . . 272 
Hon.  R.  F.  Pettigrew  . 273 


PAGE 

Hon.  W.  Walter  Phelps  279 
Hon.  Thos.  G.  Platt  . . 39 
Hon.  Thos.  C.  Power  . . 286 
Hon.  Redeield  Proctor  292 
Hon.  James  L.  Pugh  . . 301 
Hon.  M.  S.  Quay  ....  479 
Hon.  Thos.  B.  Reed  . . 470 
Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid  . 508 
Hon.  Jeremiah  Rusk  . . 459 
Hon.  Wm.  E.  Russell  . . 314 
Hon.  John  Sherman  . . 329 

Hon.  J.  Simpson  ....  323 
Hon.  Wm.  M.  Springer  . 46 
Hon.  Leland  Stanford  336 
Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson  642 
Hon.  Wm.  M.  Stewart  . 345 
Hon.  Alfred  A.  Taylor  424 
Hon.  Henry  M.  Teller  . 41 1 
Hon.  B.  F.  Tracy  . . . 446 
Hon.  Zebulon  B.  Vance  . 259 
Hon.  Geo.  V.  Vest  . . . 541 
Hon.  Wm.  F.  Vilas  . . .591 
Hon.  Danl.  W.  Voorhf.es  607 
Hon.  John  Wanamaker  453 
Hon.  Wm.  D.  Washburn  395 
Hon.  Wm.  C.  Whitney  . 570 
Hon.  Geo.  D.  Wise  ...  26 


1 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 

The  political  situation  pending  the  Presidential  election 
of  1892  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution.  It  is  free  from  the  doubts  and  suspic- 
ions that  existed  from  1787  to  the  war  of  1812.  It  is  free 
from  the  vacillations  up  to  1824.  It  is  free  from  the  in- 
trigues and  bitter  turmoils  to  1861.  It  is  free  from  the 
exceeding  gravity  of  armed  strife  and  problems  of  national 
unity  and  honor  to  1884. 

Not  that  something  of  all  that  ever  went  before  will  not 
be  involved  in  the  issues  of  1892,  but  there  is  nothing  on 
the  surface  to  indicate  a dangerous  aggregation  of  the  things 
which  make  people  shudder  at  the  thought  of  a national 
election  and  thank  God  that  it  is  over. 

The  situation  of  1892  has  been  pointed  to  by  the  attitude 
of  parties,  by  the  trend  of  political  events,  by  the  course  of 
administrations,  for  some  years.  It  is,  therefore,  a situation 
which  is  reasonably  well  understood  by  statesmen  and 
political  leaders.  The  issues  are  not  novel.  There  are 
metes  and  bounds  within  which  parties  must  play  for 
supremacy. 

Nothing  has  thus  far  developed  to  lead  to  the  conviction 
that  the  personalism  of  candidates  will  cut  any  conspicuous 
figure  in  the  campaign  of  1892.  This  should  be  a matter 
of  rejoicing.  There  is  nothing  so  degrading  as  personal 
attack,  nothing  so  humiliating  as  personal  defence.  The 
campaign  of  1884  began  on  the  very  lowest  plane  of  per- 
sonal politics.  It  shamed  both  parties,  disgusted  adherents, 
disparaged  our  campaign  methods,  and  diminished  respect 

(17) 


i8 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


for  us  at  home  and  abroad.  Happily  the  period  of  surfeit 
soon  arrived,  and  the  campaign  took  on  more  rational  show. 
The  questions  that  had  been  submerged  beneath  the  vitu- 
perative wave  reached  the  surface  eventually,  and  reason 
found  a throne.  The  deliberative  mood,  so  violently  ruffled 
at  the  start,  may  have  remained  nervous,  but  the  vital  issues 
got  a fair  hearing,  after  the  initial  storm  blew  over,  and  the 
result  was  such  as  the  country  could  sanction. 

Nor  is  there  anything  to  indicate  that  partisanship  of  an 
ascerb  or  offensive  kind  need  characterize  the  campaign. 
It  is  hardly  a time  for  narrowness  or  bitterness.  The  issues 
are  of  a broad  and  serious  nature.  They  concern  people 
rather  than  parties.  They  reach  further  than  mere  triumphs 
and  successes  for  organizations,  and  go  down  to  the  masses 
as  servers  of  themselves  rather  than  as  servers  of  parties. 
Dispassionate  discussion  will  operate  as  a more  potential 
lever  than  heated  words,  loud  expletives,  incorrect  asser- 
tions, false  logic,  and  idle  promises.  The  orator  will  have 
a mission  of  broader  scope  and  greater  merit  than  ever 
before.  He  will  have  more  critical  hearers,  auditors  more 
numerous  and  interested,  audiences  less  vociferous,  assem- 
blages for  thinking  rather  than  for  cheering  and  waving 
torches.  There  may  be  localities  where  the  sound  of  bitter- 
ness shall  be  as  sweetness,  where  the  voice  of  malice  shall 
win  applause,  and  where  the  vituperative  tongue  shall  wag 
with  favor,  but  these  will  be  wide  apart.  In  general,  con- 
viction will  be  hard  to  clinch,  and  will  refuse  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  arts  of  abuse,  the  fires  of  denunciation,  or  the 
dynamite  of  malignity. 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  activities  and 
energies  of  the  campaign  will  be  unsurpassed.  The  reach- 
ing of  the  masses,  without  the  aid  of  fiery  display,  and 
through  another  medium  than  the  eye,  the  absence  of 


Hon.  Leon  Abbett. 

Born  in  Philadelphia,  October  8,  1836;  educated  for  the  bar;  moved 
to  Hoboken  in  1862;  appointed  City  Attorney  in  1863;  elected  to  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  1864,  as  Democrat ; acquired  distinction  as  a speaker 
and  parliamentarian  ; re-elected  for  next  term  ; moved  to  Jersey  City  in 
1866;  elected  for  two  terms  to  Assembly  from  First  District  of  Hudson 
co. ; a recognized  party  leader,  distinguished  for  energy  and  ability  ; be- 
came Speaker  of  the  House ; elected  to  Senate  in  1874;  chosen  Speaker 
of  Senate  in  1877;  elected  Governor  of  New  Jersey  in  1883;  elected 
Governor  a second  time ; prominently  spoken  of  for  position  of  United 
States  Senator. 

(19) 


'~*8 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OP  1892. 


21 


inflammatory  opportunity,  impose  the  burden  of  much 
assiduity  upon  leaders.  We  have  all  heard  of  “ The  School 
House  Campaign  ” and  “ The  Campaign  of  Education/’ 
The  issues  of  1892  require  these.  They  mean  tedious, 
prolonged,  minute  work,  agency  the  most  vigorous  and 
untiring,  energy  the  most  restless  and  persevering,  devotion 
the  most  sincere  and  uncompromising.  Document  rooms 
will  shower  their  hitherto  unrevealed  treasures.  Literary 
bureaus  will  pour  forth  their  floods  of  persuasion.  Clubs 
will  inspire  with  their  enthusiastic  resolutions.  Expounders 
will  go  up  and  down  the  land  distributing  wisdom  at  every 
corner  store  and  cross-roads.  Avenues  will  be  provided 
for  carrying  the  issues  to  every  accessible  part  of  the  body 
politic,  and  enlightenment  will  reach  deeper  than  ever  before 
in  our  history.  It  is  a pleasing  contemplation  that  the 
verdict  of  1892  will  be  full.  It  is  equally  pleasing  to  con- 
template that  it  will  be  deliberate,  and  rendered  only  after 
intelligent  and  patient  hearing.  Since  the  asperities  of  civil 
war  have  been  removed,  there  is  really  no  occasion  for  other 
than  dispassionate  popular  verdicts  upon  national  questions, 
and  it  is  complimentary  to  our  civilization  that  parties  are 
growing  to  place  a higher  value  on  such  verdicts,  and  there- 
fore becoming  more  willing  to  employ  the  agencies  of  in- 
dustry, perseverance  and  minute  detail  to  win  them.  What 
a blessing  it  will  be  when  the  era  of  wild  declamation, 
partisan  denunciation,  vituperative  epithet,  inflammatory 
appeal,  unscrupulous  trick  and  villanous  intrigue  shall  give 
place  to  honest,  earnest  presentation  of  issues,  sincere  per- 
suasions, organized  opportunities  for  all  to  hear,  full  and 
fair  expression  by  ballot,  faith  in  the  popular  verdict. 

The  year  1892  cannot  escape  the  issue  of  the  Tariff. 
There  is  no  need  of  going  further  back  than  the  Tariff  Act 
of  1883  to  find  that  Democratic  and  Republican  lines  were 


22 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


hardening  for  battle  on  this  issue,  and  that  there  would  be 
no  yielding  till  mastery  was  made  emphatic  at  the  polls. 
The  Tariff  Act  of  1883,  a Republican  measure,  was  enacted 
amid  a cloud  of  Republican  reverses.  The  political  tidal- 
wave  of  1882,  partially  repeated  in  1883,  had  turned  the 
Republican  majority  of  nineteen  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  into  a Democratic 
majority  of  sixty-nine  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress.  Many 
Governors  had  been  lost  to  the  Republicans  in  their 
strongest  States.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Tariff 
legislation  which  led  to  the  Act  of  March  3,  1883,  was 
hampered.  Opposition  was  emboldened  by  Democratic 
successes,  and  advocacy  was  rendered  nervous  and  halting. 
Though  the  legislation  had  for  its  guide  the  testimony  taken 
by  an  able  Tariff  Commission,  which  sat  at  various  places 
and  heard  testimony  representative  of  all  conflicting  interests, 
during  most  of  the  year  1882  ; though  said  Commission  had 
framed  a lucid  and  exhaustive  report  for  the  use  of  Con- 
gress ; though  the  object  of  legislation,  to  equalize  rates  and 
abolish  the  incongruities  of  existing  tariffs,  was  kept  steadily 
in  view  by  the  friends  of  revision,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
Act  as  an  entirety  was  a success.  It  was  too  much  in  the 
nature  of  a compromise  to  please  contending  elements  and 
sections,  and  the  lower  rates  designed  to  benefit  manufac- 
turing sections  drew  the  criticism  and  hostility  of  the  pro- 
ducing sections. 

The  encouragement  the  Democrats  had  received  in  the 
elections  of  1882-83,  united  with  the  demoralization  which 
defeat  had  spread  in  Republican  ranks,  lent  political  impor- 
tance to  the  Tariff,  and  drew  more  distinctly  the  lines  be- 
tween Protection  and  Free  Trade  as  distinctive  party  issues. 
With  the  thought  that  they  had  the  country  with  them,  as 
indicated  by  the  elections,  and  bent  on  taking  advantage  of 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


23 


their  majority  in  the  House,  the  Democrats  formulated  what 
became  known  as  the  “ Morrison  Bill,”  or  plan  of  “ hori- 
zontal reduction  of  the  Tariff,”  a general  scaling  of  duties 
to  the  extent  of  twenty  per  cent.  Though  Mr.  Carlisle,  of 
Kentucky,  had  been  elected  speaker,  as  an  exponent  of  this 
idea,  it  was  picked  to  pieces  by  the  protectionists  in  the 
Democratic  ranks,  and  finally  fell  a prey  to  a motion  to  strike 
out  the  enacting  clause. 

While  this  was  deemed  a master  stroke  as  a preparation 
for  the  Presidential  Campaign  of  1884,  and  as  leaving  the 
Democrats  in  a position  where  they  would  not  be  called 
upon  to  explain  a doubtful  method  of  attack  upon  existing 
tariffs,  and  while  it  served  to  keep  the  question  of  Free  Trade 
and  Protection  in  abeyance  during  the  second  and  short 
session  of  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  December  1,  1884- 
March  4,  1885,  it  did  not  prevent  its  reappearance  in  the 
first  session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  December  7,  1885- 
August  6,  1886,  in  which  there  was  a Democratic  majority 
of  forty-three  votes.  But  meanwhile  President  Cleveland 
had  delivered  his  inaugural,  in  which  he  had  practically  given 
away  the  case  of  the  free  trade  element  in  his  party  and, 
though  stopping  short  of  the  doctrine  of  protection,  had 
landed  pretty  squarely  on  the  position  occupied  by  Mr. 
Randall  and  the  “protection”  minority  in  his  own  party. 
This  served  to  dampen  the  ardor  of  those  who  had  cham- 
pioned “ horizontal  reduction.”  The  Morrison  Bill  appeared 
in  fresh  garb,  to  be  sure,  but  it  only  proved  to  be  a stum- 
bling-block to  its  friends,  and  was  finally  defeated  by  a united 
Republican  and  Democratic  vote,  upon  a motion  to  go  into 
the  Committee  of  the  Whole  to  consider  it  as  reported  by 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means. 

The  situation  was  now  anything  but  pleasant  for  the 
Democrats  as  a party,  and  especially  for  those  who  repre- 


24 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


sented  the  free  trade  wing  of  the  party,  which  was  a large 
majority.  In  the  Congressional  Campaigns  of  1886  there 
was  a decided  drift  of  sentiment  toward  the  Republicans, 
who  drew  the  lines  sharply  between  Protection  and  Free 
Trade,  and  forced  to  the  uttermost  the  advantage  offered  by 
the  divided  sentiment  in  the  Democratic  ranks.  The  Demo- 
cratic majority  of  forty-three  in  the  Forty-ninth  Congress 
was  reduced  to  a slender  majority  of  fifteen  in  the  Fiftieth 
Congress,  and  more  than  two-thirds  of  this  loss  of  twenty- 
four  members  was  fully  and  fairly  accounted  for  by  the  dis- 
taste of  constituents  for  the  free  trade  leanings  of  the  dis- 
placed members.  It  was  very  clear,  then,  that  the  attitude  of 
parties  respecting  tariff  legislation  was  such  as  that  their 
political  successes  at  the  polls,  and  their  majorities  in  the 
Congress,  could  be  made  to  turn  on  opposition  to  or  advo- 
cacy of  the  doctrines  involved,  viz. : Free  Trade  and  Pro- 
tection. 

The  successes  of  1886  encouraged  and  emboldened  the 
Republicans.  They  felt  that  they  could  do  nothing  more 
in  accord  with  their  traditions  nor  more  conducive  to  party 
success  than  to  fully  elaborate  the  doctrine  of  Protection  and 
press  it  as  an  issue.  Driven  home  upon  the  Democrats, 
divided  as  they  were,  it  would  prove  an  entering  wedge  and 
assure  their  discomfiture.  Then  would  come  the  oppor^ 
tunity  to  remedy  the  defects  of  the  Act  of  1883,  and  still 
further  commit  the  party  to  protective  measures.  Sagacious 
men  in  the  Democratic  ranks  saw  the  disadvantage  they 
were  laboring  under.  Division  meant  disaster.  To  retreat 
far  enough  to  reorganize  broken  forces  meant  a confession 
of  weakness  or  cowardice.  Mr.  Cleveland,  in  his  message 
to  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  at  the  opening  of  its  second 
session,  December  6,  1886,  assured  the  Carlisle  or  free 
trade  wing  of  the  party  of  the  encouragement  of  the  admin- 


Hon.  George  D.  Wise. 

Born  in  Accomack  co.,  Va.,  1835 ; graduated  from  University  of 
Indiana,  and  from  Law  School  of  William  and  Mary  College,  Va. ; 
served  throughout  the  war,  in  the  Confederate  army,  as  Captain  and  aid 
to  General  Stevenson ; resumed  practice  of  law  in  Richmond,  Va. ; 
elected  Commonwealth  Attorney  in  1870,  and  to  1880;  elected,  as 
a Democrat,  to  47th,  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to  repre- 
sent the  Third  Virginia  District ; member  of  Committee  on  Interstate 
and  Foreign  Commerce  and  on  Expenditures  in  Department  of  Justice; 
a pleasing  orator  and  popular  member. 

(26) 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


27 


istration.  The  Tariff  was  grappled  with  renewed  energy, 
but  the  time  of  the  session  was  frittered  away  by  Commit- 
tees of  Conference,  which  repeatedly  agreed  to  disagree. 

Thus  passed  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  which  was  Demo- 
cratic in  the  House.  It  had  left  Tariff  legislation  practically 
where  it  found  it.  The  party  stood  badly  in  need  of  an 
issue  which  would  harden  its  lines  for  the  Campaign  of 
1888.  It  was  manifest  that  the  Republicans  were  about  to 
stake  their  all  on  the  policy  of  protection.  Their  lines  were 
rapidly  forming  for  battle  upon  that  issue.  What  could  the 
Democrats  do  but  bravely  form  on  the  opposing  side  ? Was 
it  not  time  to  precipitate  a struggle  and  fight  in  real  earnest 
all  along  the  lines,  instead  of  charging  here  and  retreating 
there,  obeying  discordant  leaders,  falling  a prey  to  divisions, 
promising  and  disappointing,  venturing  and  failing,  eter- 
nally ? 

This  question  was  answered  by  President  Cleveland  in  his 
celebrated  message  of  only  4,500  words  to  the  first  session 
of  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  December  5,  1887.  This  message 
was  in  the  nature  of  a special  paper  called  forth  by  an  exist- 
ing demand  for  definite  legislative  action  during  the  session. 
The  character  of  the  legislation  demanded  was  not  left  in 
doubt,  for  the  President  cut  entirely  loose  from  the  conser- 
vatism of  former  messages  and  boldly  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  free  trade  wing  of  his  party.  This  departure  sur- 
prised everybody  except  the  initiated.  The  bulk  of  the  party 
hailed  the  message  as  a clear  statement  of  a true  situation, 
and  as  a timely  declaration  of  the  principles  of  Democracy 
as  they  must  take  shape  in  the  next  campaign.  It  threw 
around  the  free  traders  the  cloak  of  “ Tariff  Reform,”  and 
left  the  “ Revenue  Reform  ” element  of  the  party  in  the  un- 
enviable position  of  a minority  too  small  to  be  considered,  or 
weak  enough  to  be  crushed.  The  Republicans  accepted  it 


*8  CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 

as  a gauntlet  thrown  into  the  arena,  and  prepared  to  act  ac- 
cordingly. 

The  Democrats  were  ably  led  in  this  Congress.  Mr.  Car- 
lisle was  re-elected  Speaker.  Mr.  Mills,  able,  bold,  untiring, 
took  hold  of  the  Tariff  legislation  which  the  Democrats  were 
bound  to  present.  He  framed  a bill  which  lowered  existing 
rates  of  duty  and  placed  many  articles  before  dutiable, 
among  them  wool,  on  the  free  list.  This  bill  was  cham- 
pioned so  ably  and  persistently  that  it  passed  the  House  by 
a majority  of  thirteen  votes,  and  never  were  party  lines  more 
closely  drawn  on  a bill  of  this  kind  in  the  lower  chamber. 

But  it  was  to  meet  with  a strange  reception  in  the  Senate. 
So  much  time  had  been  expended  upon  it  in  the  House, 
that  for  the  Senate  to  consider  it  fully  would  be  to  unduly 
prolong  an  already  lengthy  session.  Moreover,  it  was  re- 
garded as  a bill  prepared  as  a campaign  issue,  whose  discus- 
sion in  public  was  to  be  taken  as  an  expression  of  the  eco- 
nomic views  of  the  Democratic  party.  It  was  therefore  met 
in  the  Senate  by  another  bill,  which  had  been  laboriously 
prepared  and  lengthily  debated,  but  not  passed,  which  em- 
bodied the  Republican  doctrine  of  Protection,  and  whose 
discussion  in  public  would  set  forth  the  economic  views  of 
the  Republican  party.  The  two  houses,  as  well  as  the  two 
parties,  were  now  squarely  opposed,  and  ready  to  go  to  the 
country  on  the  issue  as  made  up.  Mr.  Cleveland,  who  had 
so  bravely  and  timely  struck  in  the  direction  of  an  affirma- 
tive stand  by  his  party,  became  its  logical  candidate,  and  was 
nominated  by  acclamation.  The  Republicans  chose  Ben- 
jamin Harrison,  who  was  as  pronounced  for  Protection  as 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  for  Tariff  Reform.  The  campaign  was 
clean,  earnest,  determined.  The  country  was  in  a delib- 
erative mood.  The  central  issue  was  seldom  befogged. 
Not,  for  years,  had  there  been  such  opportunity  for  mature 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


29 


judgment.  The  popular  verdict  favored  the  Republicans. 
In  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  they  converted  the  former  Demo- 
cratic majority  of  fifteen  into  a Republican  majority  of  ten. 

Despite  these  reverses,  Mr.  Cleveland,  in  his  message  to  the 
second  session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  December  3,  1888, 
and  the  Democratic  leaders  in  general,  remained  firmly  ad- 
hesive to  the  “ Tariff  Reform  ” faith,  whose  banners  they 
had  carried  during  the  Presidential  campaign.  In  this  they 
were  consistent  and  hopeful.  One  battle  does  not  neces- 
sarily settle  a war.  Time  would  come  to  their  aid.  The 
responsibility  of  an  affirmative  was  now  with  the  Republi- 
cans. This  fact  would  serve  to  heal  Democratic  differences. 
They  might  be  stronger  on  the  defensive  than  in  direct 
attack. 

The  Republicans  of  the  51st  Congress,  encouraged  by 
their  newly-elected  President,  and  led  by  Reed  and  McKin- 
ley in  the  House,  and  Sherman  and  Aldrich  in  the  Senate, 
took  early  advantage  of  their  victory  to  formulate  a Tariff 
Bill  more  in  consonance  with  the  views  of  the  party,  and  in 
closer  keeping  with  their  doctrine  of  Protection  than  the 
Act  of  1883  had  ever  been.  This  bill  drew  party  lines 
quite  as  close  as  the  Mills  Bill  of  the  prior  Congress. 
After  full  and  prolonged  debate  it  became  the  Tariff  Act 
of  October  1,  1890,  popularly  known  as  the  “ McKinley 
Act/’ 

It  gave  emphasis  to  the  Republican  doctrine  of  Protection 
by  an  attempt  to  remove  the  incongruities  of  the  Tariff  of 
1883,  many  of  which  had  become  glaring  as  time  progressed, 
by  raising  duties  on  industries,  notably  those  of  wool  and 
woolens,  which  experience  had  shown  were  not  amply  pro- 
tected, by  lowering  duties  on  articles  whose  home  manufac- 
ture had  been  sufficiently  established,  by  imposing  rates 
on,  for  instance,  tin  plate,  with  a view  to  establishing  new 


30 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


industries,  by  enlarging  the  free  list,  especially  as  to 
articles  like  sugar,  a necessary  of  life,  and  which  had  all 
along  borne  a duty  for  revenue  only,  by  offering  a bounty 
to  home  sugar  growers,  by  incorporating  into  its  provisions 
the  policy  of  reciprocity,  designed  to  extend  trade  with 
those  countries  most  affected  by  the  enlargement  of  the  free 
list. 

This  legislation  was  the  most  pronounced  and  comprehen- 
sive in  the  history  of  Tariff  Acts.  Nothing  could  have 
been  more  defiant  of  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  Democrats 
as  a party.  Defeated  at  every  point  in  the  House,  the  Sen- 
ate, and  by  the  Harrison  administration,  they  carried  their 
contest  to  the  country  in  the  elections  of  November,  1890, 
and  tor  members  to  the  5 2d  Congress.  Such  was  the  fury 
and  persistency  of  their  attack,  and  such  the  peculiar  state 
of  public  mind,  that  the  magnitude  of  their  success  was 
surprise  even  to  themselves.  They  elected  even  more  Gov- 
ernors in  Republican  States  than  in  1882-83.  They  turned 
the  Republican  majority  in  the  51st  Congress  into  a Demo- 
cratic majority  of  more  than  two-thirds  in  the  5 2d  Congress. 
Everywhere  they  proclaimed  their  signal  triumphs  as  a 
national  rebuke  of  the  theories  and  methods  of  Protection- 
ists, and  a national  vindication  of  the  principles  of  Tariff 
Reform.  True,  other  than  strictly  tariff  issues  were  injected 
into  the  campaign,  and  affected  it  seriously.  True,  argu- 
ments on  economic  questions  were  loose,  and  based  on  an- 
ticipation of  facts,  rather  than  on  facts  established.  But  these 
did  not  serve  to  diminish  the  importance  of  the  victory  to 
the  Democrats. 

In  a deliberative  review  of  the  elections  of  1890,  the  Hon. 
John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky,  thus  sketches  causes  and 
effects  : — 

“ So  great  a political  revolution  as  has  been  effected  by 


~ - — 


If  on.  John  B.  Allen, 


Born  at  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  May  18,  1845  ; educated  at  Wabash 
College;  served  in  Union  army,  in  135th  Indiana  Volunteers;  moved 
to  Rochester,  Minn.,  and  resided  there  until  1870;  admitted  to  bar  and 
began  practice ; In  1870  moved  to  Washington  Territory  and  resumed 
practice  of  law;  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney  for  Wash- 
ington, 1875;  continued  in  said  office  till  1885;  Reporter  of  Supreme 
Court  of  Washington,  1878-85;  elected  Territorial  Delegate  to  51st 
Congress;  on  admission  of  State,  elected  United  States  Senator,  as  a 
Republican,  for  term  beginning  December  2,  1889,  and  ending  March 
3,  1893 ; Chairman  of  Committee  on  Canadian  Relations  and  member 
of  Committees  on  Claims,  Public  Lands,  etc. 

(32) 


Hon.  Charles  E.  Belknap. 

Born  at  Massena,  St.  Lawrence  co.,  N.  Y.,  October  17,  1846;  moved 
w'ith  parents  to  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  1855;  left  school,  August  14, 
1862,  and  enlisted  in  21st  Michigan  Volunteers ; promoted  to  Captain 
January  22,  1864,  at  the  age  of  17  yrs.,  3 mos. ; served  till  end  of  war 
in  Army  of  Cumberland;  wounded  seven  times;  engaged  in  manufact- 
uring business;  served  terms  as  Chief  of  Grand  Rapids  Fire  Depart- 
ment; member  of  Board  of  Control  of  State  Institutions  ; Alderman  and 
Mayor ; elected  to  51st  Congress  as  a Republican  ; elected  to  52d  Con- 
gress, by  1500  majority,  November  3,  1891 ; member  of  Committees  on 
Military  Affairs  and  Patents ; an  earnest  worker  and  stout  defender  of 
Republicanism. 


(33) 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


35 


the  recent  election  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  the  stereo- 
typed statement  that  this  was  an  ‘ off  year  ’ and  a full  vote 
was  not  polled,  or  that  local  divisions  and  dissensions 
diverted  the  attention  of  the  people  from  the  public  ques- 
tions involved.  There  has  scarcely,  if  ever,  been  a Con- 
gressional campaign  in  this  country  in  which  purely  local 
questions  were  so  little  discussed,  or  in  which  local  party  or 
personal  dissensions  had  so  little  influence  as  the  one  just 
closed.  With  perhaps  a very  few  exceptions,  the  use 
of  money  for  the  purpose  of  corruption  had  little  or 
no  influence  upon  the  result,  and  it  may,  therefore,  be 
properly  accepted  as  the  deliberate  judgment  of  a large 
majority  of  the  people  upon  the  questions  submitted  to 
them. 

“ If  the  result  of  an  election  in  this  country  means  any- 
thing, if  the  people  by  their  votes  actually  pronounce  judg- 
ment upon  the  public  questions  submitted  to  them,  the 
result  of  the  recent  one  is  undoubtedly  an  emphatic  and 
conclusive  condemnation  of  the  Tariff  Act,  and  its  kindred 
measures  granting  bounties  and  subsidies  to  private  en- 
terprises. By  the  tariff  schedules  the  whole  people  are 
taxed  for  the  benefit  of  a few.  Such  a gross  abuse  of  the 
power  of  taxation  evry  naturally  alarmed  the  whole  country. 

“ The  proposed  Federal  Election  Law  was  another 
measure  which  the  people  did  not  expect,  and  for  which  the 
country  was  not  prepared.  The  Force  Bill  is  better  calcu- 
lated than  any  other  measure  that  could  have  been  devised, 
to  demoralize  labor  and  destroy  the  value  of  investments  at 
the  South ; and  this,  in  fact,  will  be  about  the  only  practical 
effect  of  its  passage,  because  no  statute  can  permanently 
control  the  political  action  of  the  people  in  this  country. 
It  is  evident  that  the  country  does  not  want  such  a law,  and 


36 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


the  Senate  will  probably  allow  it  to  die  on  the  calendar  and 
be  buried  with  other  rubbish  at  the  end  of  the  session. 

“ There  has  never  been  in  our  history  a more  extravagant 
Congress  than  the  present  one.  It  is  doubtful  whether  its 
prodigality  in  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money  has  ever 
been  equalled  by  any  body  of  legislators,  except  the  itiner- 
ant statesmen  who  infested  some  of  the  capitals  in  the 
Southern  States  during  the  period  of  reconstruction. 
Large  expenditures  afford  an  excuse  for  heavy  taxation, 
and,  therefore,  economy  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs  is  regarded  by  many  Protectionists  as  inconsistent 
with  the  fiscal  policy  of  that  party,  and  is  condemned  for 
that  reason. 

“ The  rules  of  the  present  House  were  so  framed,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Speaker  and  the  Committee  on  Rules  has 
been  so  exercised,  as  to  enable  the  majority  in  that  body  at 
any  time  to  put  an  end  to  all  opposition  to  its  measures  and 
pass  them  in  any  form  it  may  choose.  If  the  rules,  unjust 
as  they  are  to  the  minority,  had  been  strictly  adhered  to  in 
the  transaction  of  business,  there  would  have  been  at  least 
a limited  opportunity  for  debate  and  amendment,  and  no 
important  measure  could  have  been  passed  without  some- 
thing like  proper  consideration.  But  notwithstanding  the 
unfair  advantage  held  by  the  majority  under  this  severe  and 
unprecedented  code  of  rules,  it  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
almost  absolute  power  conferred  upon  it  and  its  presiding 
officer.” 

The  above,  coming  from  one  of  the  foremost  and  clearest- 
headed  of  the  Democratic  leaders,  may  be  accepted  as  the 
judgment  of  the  party.  In  it  may  also  be  found  the  satis- 
faction of  the  party  with  its  position  and  its  determination 
to  fight  to  the  end  upon  the  lines  laid  down  in  that  and 
previous  campaigns.  It  was  with  this  determination  that 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


37 


the  elated  Democratic  majority  entered  upon  its  career  in 
the  5 2d  Congress.  Flushed  with  success,  it  rallied  around 
its  logical  and  best  equipped  economic  leader,  Mr.  Mills,  of 
Texas,  father  of  the  Mills’  Bill  in  the  49th  Congress,  and 
would  gladly  have  honored  him  with  the  Speaker’s  Chair, 
which  would  have  given  full  play  to  his  powers.  But  there 
suddenly  came  a change  of  sentiment  in  Democratic  coun- 
cils. Mr.  Mills  had  won  fame  as  an  ardent,  indefatigable, 
able  and  honest  advocate  of  the  anti-protection  measures  of 
his  party.  He  had  appeared  on  the  stump  in  many  States 
during  the  campaign  of  1890,  and  had  been  outspoken  in 
his  views  respecting  the  doctrines  of  Free-trade  and  Protec- 
tion. Under  ordinary  circumstances  he  might  have  been 
entrusted  with  the  leadership  of  his  party,  but  the  circum- 
stances were  not  ordinary.  In  the  overwhelming  Demo- 
cratic majority  in  the  House  there  were  seeds  of  danger. 
Excess  might  dwarf  and  blight  success.  Democrats  really 
feared  to  trust  themselves.  It  was  well  known  what  Mr. 
Mills  would  do.  He  could  not,  in  vindication  of  his  past 
efforts  and  out  of  respect  to  his  present  judgment  and  to 
the  verdict  of  the  country,  but  hew  to  the  lines  he  had  laid 
down  in  the  49th  Congress,  and  in  his  subsequent  career. 
This  meant  a Tariff  Act  as  a counter  to  the  McKinley  Act. 
For  this  the  party  did  not  seem  to  be  ready,  despite  the  em- 
phatic verdict  of  the  country,  and  its  loud  and  oft  repeated 
professions  of  Tariff  Reform. 

The  time  had  come  for  shaping  lines  for  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1892.  While  no  abatement  of  the  free  trade 
or  tariff  reform  sentiment  was  noticeable,  while  the  determi- 
nation was  still  paramount  to  continue  hostility  to  the  Re- 
publicaa  doctrine  of  protection  as  embodied  in  the  Tariff 
Act  of  1890,  and  to  repeat,  if  possible,  the  splendid  tri- 
umphs of  that  year  in  a Presidential  campaign,  it  was 


38 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


deemed  wisest  not  to  antagonize  too  much  in  advance  and 
too  directly  the  doctrines  they  hoped  to  overwhelm  in  the 
end.  Ere  the  Fifty-first  Congress  could  assemble  in  Decem- 
ber, 1891,  there  were  evidences  of  reaction  in  the  public 
mind.  A suspicion  began  to  dawn  that,  after  all,  the  situ- 
ation of  1890  might  not  prove  to  be  as  real  as  it  had  been 
pictured.  At  any  rate,  there  was  no  need  of  taking  any 
risks.  Mr.  Mills  was  sacrificed,  and  Mr.  Crisp,  of  Georgia, 
was  given  the  gavel.  Out  of  this  sprang  the  plan  of  indi- 
direct,  rather  than  direct,  attack  upon  the  doctrine  of  pro- 
tection ; attacks  by  piecemeal  rather  than  by  stupendous 
charge. 

The  large  Democratic  majority  in  the  Fifty-second  Con- 
gress adopted  this  plan,  not  heartily,  but  as  an  expedient. 
It  would  serve  all  the  purposes  of  keeping  party  lines  de- 
fined, of  pressing  Tariff  Reform  as  a party  measure,  and 
of  exposing  the  fallacies  of  Protection.  It  would  be  free 
from  the  dangers  which  attended  the  opening  of  the  whole 
tariff  subject  in  a House  composed  of  so  many  untried 
members,  each  inordinately  flushed  by  his  victory  at  the 
polls.  If  it  involved  disrespect  for  the  popular  verdict,  the 
use  of  discretion  was  urged  -as  an  excuse.  If  it  proved 
disappointing  to  constituents,  promise  of  the  later,  greater 
and  grander  victory  in  store,  was  the  ointment  of  healing. 
If  it  showed  that  the  party  lacked  the  courage  of  its  con- 
victions, it  was  answered  that  diplomacy  was  wiser  than 
haste.  If  the  charge  of  cowardice  was  made,  the  adage  was 
handy  that  “ to  divide  and  conquer  ” was  one  of  the  oldest 
and  best  approved  of  the  arts  of  war. 

And  so  there  came  into  the  Congress  no  definite,  entire 
Tariff  Act,  but  a series  of  measures,  attacking  what  was 
deemed  most  offensive  in  the  Act  of  1890.  These  were  de- 
bated with  great  fullness,  and  so  as  to  serve  the  object  of 


Hon.  Thomas  C.  Platt. 

Born  in  Owego,  N.  Y.,  July  15,  1833;  studied  ai  Yale  College; 
became  President  of  Tioga,  N.  Y.,  National  Bank,  and  engaged  in 
lumber  business  in  Michigan;  elected  to  Congress,  as  a Republican, 
1872-74 ; elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  January  18,  1881 ; resigned  with 
Roscoe  Conkling,  May,  1881  ; defeated  for  re-election  ; Secretary  and 
Director  of  U.  S.  Express  Co.,  1879;  President  of  same  since  1880; 
Commissioner  of  Quarantine,  N.  Y.,  1880-1888;  member  of  Republican 
National  Conventions,  1876-80-84-88-92;  President  of  Southern  Cen- 
tral R.  R.  since  1888 ; conspicuous  in  Republican  National  Convention 
of  1892  as  leader  of  Blaine  forces ; an  acute  and  natural  party  leader 
in  New  York. 


(39) 


\ 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


41 


their  introduction,  to  wit,  the  feeling  of  its  way  on  the  part  of 
the  majority,  and  the  keeping  on  parade  the  iniquities  they 
were  aimed  at.  There  was  no  manifest  faltering  of  party 
lines  during  these  debates,  though  individual  members  of  cer- 
tain sections  expressed  dissent  by  vote  when  they  felt  that 
the  interests  of  their  constituents  would  be  touched  ad- 
versely. This  was  notably  the  case  with  the  bill  to  place 
wool  on  the  free  list  and  to  reduce  the  duties  on  woolens, 
which  bill  was  the  first  of  the  series  submitted  for  debate, 
and  perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  series. 

What  was  remarkable  about  this  method  was  the  fact  that 
it  served  the  purpose  of  satisfying  so  large  and  enthusiastic 
a majority,  and  that,  too,  in  the  face  of  the  daily  growing 
fact  that  interest  in  the  plan  faded  as  the  session  dragged 
along.  Members  seemed  to  reconcile  themselves  to  it  solely 
for  its  time-consuming  features,  although  they  had  come 
with  bosoms  full  of  revenge  and  brains  full  of  overwhelming 
measures.  The  excuse  grew  familiar,  that  there  was  really 
no  use  bothering  about  such  legislation  at  all,  since  it  was 
sure  to  be  crushed  by  an  adverse  Senate  or  President.  It 
was  a time  for  abeyance  rather  than  positive  assertion,  and  the 
time  would  be  short.  The  momentum  acquired  by  the  elec- 
tions of  1 890  would  serve  to  carry  the  party  over  the  chasms 
of  1892,  without  the  intervention  of  bridges  built  out  of  the 
composite  and  doubtful  material  found  in  a suddenly  ac- 
quired and  untried  House  majority  of  two-thirds. 

The  elections  of  1891,  and  the  spring  of  1892,  were  far 
from  assuring  to  the  Democrats.  The  operations  of  the 
Tariff  of  1890  were  subverting  many  of  their  theories,  dis- 
appointing their  promises  and  dissipating  their  facts.  In  a 
more  dispassionate  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  Act  than 
any  that  had  been  had,  between  men  better  equipped  for 
argument  than  usual,  and  at  a time  when  mere  visions  and 


42 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


declamations  could  not  be  made  to  do  duty  as  logic,  the 
champion  of  the  Act  of  1890  was  elected  the  Governor  of 
his  State  by  a large  majority.  The  Rhode  Island  contest 
was  similar  to  that  in  Ohio,  in  the  respect  that  it  turned 
almost  solely  on  the  merits  of  Protection  and  Free  Silver 
Coinage,  both  questions  of  national  moment. 

But  even  if  these  evidences  of  reaction  had  not  occurred, 
the  Republicans  could  not  have  changed  their  fighting- 
ground  for  1892.  Their  commitment  to  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1 890,  and  to  the  policy  of  Protection  it  involved,  was  complete. 
They  made  the  most  of  their  brief  innings,  took  a very  bold 
affirmative,  staked  the  success  of  their  party  on  their  legisla- 
tion, and  so  must  be  bound  by  the  consequences,  not  only 
for  this  but  for  several  campaigns,  for  it  is  in  the  very  nature 
of  Tariff  legislation  that  it  is  necessarily  thrown  on  the 
defensive  for  a long  time.  Its  merits  are  never  fully  manifest 
except  after  prolonged  trial.  The  business  interests  touched, 
and  at  large,  are  impatient  of  tampering  with  legislation  that 
so  vitally  concerns  them. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  possible  for  either  of  the  great  parties 
to  escape  the  issue  of  Protection  and  Free  Trade,  or  Tariff 
Reform,  in  1892.  Their  histories  for  ten  years  lead  to  this 
issue  at  this  time.  The  battle  will  be  fought  with  greater 
stubbornness  and  with  better  defined  lines  than  ever  before. 
The  victory  will  be  more  decisive  for  the  winning  side. 

Another  issue,  one  hardly  less  important  and  equally 
inevitable,  will  be  the  Free  Coinage  of  silver.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  is  not  such  a unit  upon  this  question  as  to  make 
it  a desirable  issue,  but  it  is  one  with  which  a majority  of 
that  party  has  coquetted  so  long,  and  in  their  strongest 
States,  as  that  there  is  no  rational  escape  from  it. 

Of  it,  the  Hon.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  says  : — 

“There  are  always  a good  many  people  who  are  capti- 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


43 


vated  by  the  cry  of  ‘ cheaper  money ; ’ and  recently,  from  one 
cause  or  another,  there  has  been  sufficient  financial  strin- 
gency to  make  the  demand  for  cheaper  money  peculiarly 
strong  and  widespread.  But  that  which  now  really  forces 
the  question  of  free  coinage  of  silver  so  strongly  to  the  front 
is  the  fact  that  it  has  been  made  a test  question  by  large 
bodies  of  voters  who  have  been  drawn  into  certain  new 
political  movements,  of  which  the  most  conspicuous  is  the 
Farmers’  Alliance.  These  movements  are  not  confined  to 
farmers  or  men  of  any  particular  occupation.  A wave  of 
unrest  and  dissatisfaction  with  existing  social  conditions  is 
passing  over  the  country,  and  has  had  many  and  varied 
manifestations,  chiefly  of  a socialistic  tendency.  Their  in- 
tensity and  enduring  qualities  have  not  yet  been  measured, 
although  it  is  quite  obvious  that  in  their  present  form  they 
show  no  signs  of  permanence.  Many  desires,  propositions, 
and  demands,  some  of  far-reaching  character,  have  been 
made  known,  but  the  one  question  which  has  been  put  for- 
ward out  of  the  mass,  and  which  is  to  be  made  the  test  of  loy- 
alty and  victory  alike,  is  this  question  of  free  silver  coinage, 
behind  which  lies  the  additional  demand  for  cheap  money. 
The  free-silver  movement  existed  long  before  the  present 
agitation  began,  and  finds  support  among  large  bodies  of 
people  who  have  no  sympathy  or  connection  with  the 
general  readjustment  of  social  and  financial  arrangements 
which  organizations  like  the  Farmers’ Alliance  are  demand- 
ing. For  this  very  reason,  free  coinage  becomes  a peculiarly 
available  issue  for  men  bent  on  political  changes  of  a much 
more  fundamental  and  far-reaching  character.  Hence,  the 
free  coinage  of  silver  comes  daily  more  and  more  to  the 
front,  while  the  opposition  to  it,  an  essential  in  making  up 
any  issue,  is  as  strong  and  determined  as  the  forces  united 
in  its  support. 


44 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


“ The  attitude  and  condition  of  the  two  great  parties  tend 
also  strongly  in  the  same  direction.  The  Democrats  must 
champion  free  silver,  while  the  Republican  party  must  just 
as  surely  oppose  it.  As  the  foe  of  the  Republicans,  as  the 
controlling  ally  of  the  Democrats,  the  Alliance  can  select 
its  issue  until  its  power  wanes.” 

It  is  known  that  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties 
drew  wide  apart,  and  with  well-defined  lines,  respecting 
legislation  upon  the  currency  question  during  and  sub- 
sequent to  the  war.  They  became  particularly  hostile 
during  the  discussions  which  led  to  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  against  which  the  Democratic  party  threw 
itself  squarely  in  1876,  and  thus  placed  itself  in  position  for 
that  singular  alliance  with  the  “ Greenback  Party,”  which 
actually  took  place  in  several  States,  and  that,  too,  under 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  Democratic  leaders.  As 
the  “ Greenback  Party  ” had  for  its  main  object  the  relief 
of  financial  stringency  and  business  depression  by  using  the 
Government  credit  in  the  shape  of  “ Greenbacks,”  whose 
issue  should  be  ample  for  the  relief  sought,  it  resembled  in 
its  object  and  in  not  a few  of  its  essentials  those  who  favor 
at  present  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  dollars. 
And  further,  as  the  coalition  between  the  Democrats  and 
Greenbackers  became  so  solid  in  the  New  England  States, 
the  great  West  and  in  nearly  all  the  South,  as  that  the  two 
parties  could  with  difficulty  be  distinguished,  so  now  the 
Free  Silverite  and  the  Democrat  are  identical  in  a large  part 
of  the  South  and  West. 

One  can  hardly  think  that  the  gradual  commitment  of 
the  Democratic  party  to  Free  Coinage  was  deliberate,  or  in 
accord  with  the  better  judgment  of  the  party.  While  it 
very  naturally  opposed  the  legislation  of  1873,  which  led  to 
the  demonetization  of  silver,  it  did  not  oppose  it  on  that 


Hon.  William  M.  Springer. 


Born  in  Sullivan  co.,  Indiana,  May  30, 1836 ; moved  to  Illinois,  1848  ; 
graduated  at  Indiana  State  University,  1858  ; admitted  to  bar,  1859; 
Secretary  of  Illinois  State  Constitutional  Convention,  1862 ; member  of 
State  Legislature,  1871-72 ; elected  to  represent  Thirteenth  District  in 
Congress,  in  44th,  45th,  46th,  47th,  48th,  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses; 
elected  as  a Democrat  to  52d  Congress  by  a majority  of  5000 ; Chair- 
man of  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means ; an  excellent  parliamentarian, 
able  orator  and  recognized  party  leader ; was  prominent  candidate  for 
Speaker  of  52d  Congress. 


..(46) 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


47 


ground,  but  because  that  legislation  looked  to  the  resump- 
tion of  specie  payments.  When  the  Bland  Bill  of  1878 
came  up  and  was  passed,  to  be  vetoed,  which  bill  had  for 
its  object  the  remonetization  of  silver  by  the  compulsory 
coinage  of  $2,<x>o,ooo  a month,  the  then  Democratic  House 
was  able  to  muster  to  its  aid  sufficient  Republican  strength 
to  pass  it  over  the  President’s  veto.  This  legislation,  there- 
fore, was  not  sufficiently  Democratic  in  type  to  warrant  the 
impression  that  the  party  was  doing  more  than  yielding  to 
a demand  from  the  silver-mining  States,  which  might 
ultimately  land  them  in  the  Democratic  columns.  Doubt- 
less, the  same  thought  largely  actuated  many  of  the  Repub- 
licans who  came  to  the  support  of  the  bill. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  not  long  before  the  Demo- 
crats cohered  about  the  principle  of  silver  coinage  as  em- 
bodied in  the  Bland  Act.  In  the  Second  Session  of  the 
Forty-fifth  Congress  the  Republicans  made  a determined 
effort  to  repeal  the  Act  authorizing  the  Coinage  of  Bland 
dollars.  In  this  they  were  defeated  by  an  almost  solid 
Democratic  vote.  Thus  party  lines  became  hardened  on 
the  silver  question  as  it  stood  at  that  day. 

At  the  Extra  Session  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress,  called 
March  18,  1879,  in  which  the  Democrats  had  a majority  in 
House  and  Senate,  those  of  the  House  passed  the  Warner 
Silver  Bill,  which  provided  for  the  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver.  Their  majority  in  the  Senate  did  not  take  to  it 
kindly,  and  rebuked  the  House  majority  by  refusing  to 
consider  it.  In  his  message  to  the  regular  session  of  the 
Forty-sixth  Congress,  President  Hayes  took  decided  ground 
against  further  coinage  of  the  Bland  dollar.  As  the  period 
of  resumption  had  now  arrived  the  Republicans  could  not 
but  oppose  any  and  all  legislation  which  threatened  its 
consummation.  The  remonetization  of  silver  by  the  further 
3 


48 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


coinage  of  a legal  tender,  whose  intrinsic  value  was  less  than 
its  face  value,  would  certainly,  in  their  opinion,  jeopardize 
the  experiment  of  resumption  of  payments  in  gold,  by  ex- 
pansion of  a currency  which  would  itself  require  redemption. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  either  party  stood  squarely  to  what 
now  seemed  to  be  its  conviction  respecting  silver  coinage  in 
the  national  platforms  of  1880.  The  Republicans  general- 
ized by  pledging  the  payment  of  all  national  obligations  in 
coin,  and  the  Democrats  did  the  same  by  favoring  “ honest 
money.”  But  President  Hayes,  in  his  last  message,  again 
announced  his  views,  and  those  of  his  party,  in  favor  of  the 
coinage  of  a silver  dollar  equal  in  value  to  the  gold  dollar. 
In  so  far  as  the  silver  question  affected  the  campaign  of 
1880,  the  result  was  a rebuke  of  the  Democratic  position, 
for  the  Republicans  not  only  elected  their  President  but  a 
majority  of  Congressmen. 

In  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  Tariff  legislation  was  so 
supreme  as  to  exclude  serious  consideration  of  the  silver 
question,  and  very  little  was  heard  of  it  during  the  first 
session^  of  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  except  as  President 
Arthur  advised  in  his  message  the  redemption  and  recoin- 
age of  the  trade  dollars.  But  at  the  second  session  of  the 
Forty-eighth  Congress,  which  was  largely  Democratic,  the 
whole  country  was  amazed  by  the  introduction  of  a bill  to 
suspend  the  coinage  of  two  million  Bland  dollars  per  month. 
This  bill  was  said  to  have  been  introduced  at  the  instigation 
of  Mr.  Cleveland,  who  had  just  been  elected  President,  and  as 
an  aid  to  his  proposed  administrative  policy.  It  was  defeated 
by  the  Democrats  themselves.  The  platforms  of  both 
parties  in  1884  passed  gingerly  over  the  silver  question, 
that  of  the  Republicans  simply  demanding  “ an  international 
standard  for  gold  and  silver/’  and  that  of  the  Democrat^  a* 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892.  49 

circulating  medium  of  gold  and  silver,  or  money  convertible 
into  the  same.” 

In  his  message  to  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  December  7, 
1885,  the  House  being  Democratic,  President  Cleveland  por- 
trayed in  sharp,  bold  outline  the  dangers  of  further  coinage 
of  the  Bland  silver  dollar,  and  urged  that  such  coinage  be 
stopped.  He  was  fairly  on  the  ground  occupied  by  the  Re- 
publicans prior  to  the  resumption  of  specie  payments.  His 
party  paid  little  heed  to  his  suggestion,  but  rather  got  into  a 
muddle  which  was  not  straightened  out  till  the  second  ses- 
sion of  the  Congress,  and  then  in  a way  which  brought  satis- 
faction to  nobody.  The  free  silver  coinage  law  of  the  session 
provided  for  the  issue  of  one,  two  and  five  dollar  certificates, 
based  on  the  coin  stored  in  the  vaults,  and  was  only  a post- 
ponement of  the  silver  problem.  There  was  but  little  discus- 
sion of  the  silver  question  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  and  its 
merits  hardly  affected  the  national  campaign  of  1888,  the 
tariff  being  the  absorbing  theme.  But  in  the  Fifty-first 
Congress,  both  houses  being  Republican,  the  question  came 
prominently  forward  and  was  handled  in  a spirit  which 
showed  a determination  to  settle  it  for  a long  time.  A Bill 
framed  in  a Committee  of  Conference,  of  which  Senator 
Sherman  was  Chairman,  was  passed,  which  authorized  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  purchase,  from  time  to  time, 
silver  bullion  to  the  amount  of  4,500,000  ounces  per  month, 
or  less,  at  the  market  price  thereof,  not  exceeding  one  dol- 
lar for  371.25  grains  of  fine  silver,  and  to  issue  in  pay- 
ment for  the  same  treasury  notes  of  not  less  than  one 
nor  over  one  thousand  dollars  in  denomination. 

This  was  the  Silver  Act  of  1890,  and  became  known  as 
the  Sherman  Act.  It  was  a compromise  measure,  and  at  the 
time  was  acceptable  to  the  silver-producing  States.  It  did 
away  with  the  compulsory  coinage  of  2,000,000  dollars  a 


So 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


month,  but  provided  for  the  purchase  of  silver  bullion  to  an 
amount  exceeding  the  output  of  the  American  mines,  and 
for  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  in  payment  of  the  same,  and 
as  a legal  tender,  that  is,  redeemable  ir.  coin  (gold  being  de- 
mandable).  But  the  bullion  was  to  be  purchased  only  at 
its  market  price,  and  not  exceeding  one  dollar  for  every 
371.  25  grains,  and  was  to  stand  as  a security  only  at  the 
price  paid  for  it.  The  Act  provided  a market  for  all  the  sil- 
ver likely  to  be  produced  in  the  United  States,  and  more, 
and  increased  the  currency  of  the  country  to  that  extent,  an 
increase  which  has,  under  the  operation  of  the  Act,  ex- 
ceeded the  ratio  of  increase  in  population,  being  to  August 
I,  1891,  $55,191,821. 

This  Act  led  to  full  and  free  debate,  and  party  lines  were 
drawn  upon  it  almost  exactly,  a few  only  on  either  side 
deserting  to  the  enemy.  It  was  supported  by  both  the  Ne- 
vada Senators,  Jones  and  Stewart,  and  so  well  satisfied  were 
they  with  its  provisions  that  they  said  it  not  only  gave  them 
what  they  wanted  for  their  locality,  but  declared  in  their 
reasoning  upon  it  that  free  coinage  was  impracticable. 

Now  the  Act  of  1890  ranks  as  a distinctive  Republican 
measure.  It  repealed  a Democratic  measure,  and  was  there- 
fore offensive.  It  encouraged  bi-metallism  to  the  extent  of 
our  own  production  of  silver,  but  beyond  that  the  mono- 
metallic, or  gold,  principle  should  prevail. 

Throughout  the  country  the  Republicans  stood  by  this 
disposition  of  the  perplexing  question,  and  the  Democrats 
formed  in  opposition  to  it.  There  was  no  exception  to  this 
rule,  as  we  can  recall,  where  the  opportunity  for  formal  ex- 
pression occurred.  Taking  the  State  of  Ohio  as  fairly  rep- 
resentative of  sentiment,  the  Republicans,  in  the  campaign 
of  1891,  declared  that: — 

“ Thoroughly  believing  that  gold  and  silver  should  form 


V** 


Born  in  Erie  co.,  N.  Y.,  December  7,  1827 ; started,  a poor  boy,  at 
sixteen,  for  Racine,  Wis. ; worked  on  a farm  for  a time  and  returned  to 
New  York;  admitted  to  bar  of  Erie  co.,  1852;  elected  to  ’Assembly, 
as  a Republican,  1853;  nominated  a second  time  and  defeated;  moved 
to  Waterloo,  Iowa,  1867 ; practiced  profession,  and  became  large  land 
owner ; left  the  Republican  party  on  account  of  its  prohibition  doctrines 
in  1883;  advocated  Cleveland’s  election  in  1884;  favors  tariff  reform, 
but  not  unqualified  free  coinage ; nominated  for  Governor,  on  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  in  fall  of  1889,  and  elected  ; a Congregationalist,  strictly 
temperate,  and  a patron  of  fine-stock  raising. 


Hon.  Horace  Boies. 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


53 


the  basis  of  all  circulating  mediums,  we  endorse  the 
amended  Coinage  Act  of  the  last  Republican  Congress,  by 
which  the  entire  production  of  the  silver  mines  of  the 
United  States  is  added  to  the  currency  of  the  people.’’ 

The  Democrats  of  the  same  State  set  forth  in  their  plat- 
form, that : — 

“We  denounce  the  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873  by 
the  party  in  power  as  an  iniquitous  alteration  of  the  money 
standard  in  favor  of  creditors  and  against  debtors,  tax  payers 
and  producers,  and  which,  by  shutting  off  the  sources  of 
primary  money,  operates  continually  to  increase  the  value 
of  gold,  depress  prices,  hamper  industry,  and  disparage  en- 
terprise, and  we  demand  the  reinstatement  of  the  constitu- 
tional standard  of  both  gold  and  silver,  with  the  equal  right 
of  each  to  free  and  unlimited  coinage.” 

Now  coinage  of  silver  under  the  Bland  Act,  or  more  ac- 
curately speaking  under  the  Bland-Allison  Act,  was  a coin- 
age in  excess  of  a demand.  In  fact  it  was  useless,  for  the 
dollars  wouldn’t  float.  No  way  could  be  devised  to  circu- 
late them,  as  silver  dollars.  The  device  of  silver  certificates 
based  on  them,  made  a currency  equal  to  their  value,  but 
what  was  the  use  of  keeping  the  mints  running,  when  the 
uncoined  bullion  would  answer  the  same  purpose  as  a secu- 
rity ? One  way  was  as  good  as  another  for  Democrats  and 
Republicans,  in  so  far  as  the  object  in  view  was  to  provide 
a market  for  the  silver  produced  by  the  silver  States. 

But  was  this  all  that  was  in  view  ? By  no  means.  The 
Republicans  had  reached  the  end  of  their  string,  and  they 
practically  avowed  that  to  go  further  would  be  to  falsify  their 
record  as  to  coinage,  retrace  all  the  steps  that  had  led  to 
resumption  and  retract  all  their  arguments  against  inflation. 
The  Democrats  were  freer  of  foot.  They  were  in  a position 
to  profit  by  antagonism,  and  to  cultivate  the  sentiment 


54 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


which  was  born  of  discontent.  This  discontent  permeated 
a wide  area,  dedicated  entirely  to  them,  viz.,  the  South. 
It  had  shown  itself  in  other  areas,  especially  of  the  West, 
in  a form  which  might  easily  be  cultivated,  and  possibly 
captured.  There  was  an  uprising,  an  outbreak,  a volcanic 
something,  which  was  indescribable  in  its  demands,  except 
as  to  its  demand  for  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver. 
In  this,  there  may  not  have  been  a fitting  in  with  the  more 
conservative  and  enlightened  Democratic  idea,  but  it  opened 
a Democratic  opportunity  too  tempting  to  be  resisted.  All 
will  remember  how  the  Greenback  idea  ran  away  with 
Democratic  judgment.  This  new  idea  scored  a similar  tri- 
umph. Left  to  itself,  it  might  have  passed  as  a curiosity  of 
American  politics.  Coquetted  with,  and  encouraged,  it 
proved  a siren,  and  the  future  must  unfold  the  dark  and  in- 
tricate recesses  into  which  it  led  its  wooer. 

It  is  needless  here  to  describe  in  full  the  injection  of  this 
new  idea.  Yet  some  description  of  it  is  just  as  to  its  origin 
and  demands,  if  not  as  a reason  why  Democracy  finds  an 
excuse  for  coquetting  with  it.  We  will  ignore  its  Pfeffers, 
its  Polks,  its  originators  and  leaders,  as  they  find  blazonry 
and  power  in  its  midst,  and  take  the  reasons  and  the  posi- 
tion from  one  who  is  authorized  to  speak  in  the  forum  of 
the  nation,  but  who  occupies  a round  on  the  ladder  between 
the  middle  and  top.  We  extract  from  the  speech  of  Hon. 
William  H.  Hatch  of  Missouri,  in  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives, Feb.  25,  1891.  He  said: 

“ The  farmers  of  the  United  States  for  the  past  twenty- 
five  years  have  tolerated  and  even  encouraged  a system  of 
national  legislation  so  inimical  and  detrimental  to  their  best 
interests  that  the  great  wonder  is  that  the  ‘ movement  ’ had 
not  reached  its  present  proportions  years  ago.  The  answer 


Campaign  issues  of  1892. 


S5 


is  found  in  the  traditional  conservatism  of  this  class,  and 
the  strength  of  personal  pride  and  party  ties  among  all  our 
people.  They  have  waited  in  vain  for  relief  from  the  party 
in  power  without  resorting  to  the  exercise  of  vigorous  and 
independent  action.  Long-continued  and  repeated  legisla- 
tive discriminations,  oppressive  and  increasing  rates  of  tax- 
ation, with  diminished  prices  for  farm  products  and  shrinkage 
in  values  of  the  best  lines  of  property  held  by  them,  at  last 
gave  an  impetus  to  the  farmers’  movement  that  is  unparal- 
leled in  its  proportions  and  astounding  in  the  velocity  with 
which  it  spread  over  the  land,  and  the  unanimity  of  its  ac- 
ceptance by  farmers  of  all  sections  of  the  Union  and  the 
growers  of  all  principal  farm  products. 

“ It  is  marvellous  that  the  rice  and  cotton  planters  of  the 
extreme  South,  the  tobacco  growers  of  Tennessee  and  Ken- 
tucky, the  wheat  growers  of  our  entire  country,  the  stock 
raisers  of  all  sections  of  the  Union,  and  the  painstaking  and 
diversified  farming  interests  of  New  England  should  have 
been  so  well  prepared  to  receive  any  practical  suggestions 
of  relief  that  when  the  ‘ movement  ’ began  in  earnest,  less 
than  two  years  ago,  it  should  sweep  over  the  country  with 
the  velocity  of  a cyclone,  and  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
civil  revolution. 


“ The  gradual  and  steady  decline  of  farm  products  began 
with  the  demonetization  of  silver ; I confidently  believe  that 
its  restoration  to  a perfect  equality  with  gold  as  to  coinage 
bullion  and  certificates,  based  upon  the  ratio  fixed  by  our 
laws,  will  be  greatly  beneficial  in  restoring  prices  of  farm 
products  to  an  average  that  will  be  remunerative,  if  not 
profitable,  to  the  producers.  Free  coinage  of  silver,  with 
an  increase  of  our  paper  circulation  commensurate  with  our 
increased  population  and  constantly  augmenting  commercial 


56 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


demands,  will  bring  at  once  activity  in  trade,  hope  and  buoy- 
ancy  in  all  lines  of  commerce,  and  certain  relief  as  well  as 
an  increased  prosperity  to  our  great  productive  industries. 

“ Mr.  Chairman,  who  makes  this  demand  for  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  ? The  National  Farmers’  Alliance  in  their 
convention  at  Ocala,  December,  1890,  the  last  convention 
held  by  that  organization,  declared  in  favor  of  the  free  coin- 
age of  silver  in  these  emphatic  words : 

“ ‘ We  condemn  the  silver  bill  recently  passed  by  Con- 
gress, and  demand  in  lieu  thereof  the  free  and  unlimited 
coinage  of  silver.’ 

“ The  National  Grange  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  in 
their  last  national  meeting,  held  November  12,  1890,  also 
declared  for  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver. 

“ Every  representative  body  of  farmers  in  the  United 
States  have  within  the  past  two  or  three  years  been  equally 
explicit  and  emphatic  in  their  indorsement  of  this  policy. 

“ Many  representative  bodies  in  the  different  States  where 
the  Democrats  are  in  a majority,  have  also  expressed  them- 
selves, in  resolutions,  strongly  in  favor  of  free  coinage  of 
silver. 

“ The  last  expression  on  the  part  of  any  representative 
body  of  Democrats  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  upon  this  sub- 
ject, was  a series  of  resolutions  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  in  which  they  declared 
‘ that  in  order  that  the  volume  of  money  may  be  increased 
we  favor  the  free  arid  unlimited  coinage  of  silver.’ 

“ This  was  on  the  19th  day  of  January,  1891. 

“ Since  the  resolutions  of  the  Missouri  Legislature  that  I 
have  referred  to  were  offered  and  printed  in  the  Record , and 
after  the  publication  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  letter  on  February 
13,  there  was  an  effort  made  by  resolution  offered  in  the 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


57 


House  of  Representatives  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  in- 
dorse that  letter,  which  was  very  promptly  voted  down,  and 
Mr.  Fogle,  a prominent  Democrat,  residing  in  my  district, 
offered  this  resolution,  which  received  the  vote  of  every 
Democrat  in  the  House,  as  well  as  some  Republicans,  the 
vote  being  85  yeas  to  8 nays. 

“ ‘ Resolved , That  it  is  the  sense  of  the  House  that  we  are 
unqualifiedly  in  favor  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver,  and  that  we  thereby  represent  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  the  great  State  of  Missouri.’ 

“ Gentlemen  need  not  flatter  themselves  that  this  organ- 
ization, because  it  is  young  and  almost  unorganized,  is 
without  power.  It  will  close  its  ranks,  leaders  will  develop 
as  it  comes  to  the  front,  because  they  have  determined  that 
sooner  than  yield  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  demands  I have 
mentioned,  they  will  ‘ give  their  homes  to  the  flames  and 
their  flesh  to  the  eagles/  ” 

So  confident  were  the  Democrats  of  their  position  that 
their  greatest  leader  on  Silver  matters  introduced  into  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  a bill  looking  to  the  free  and  unlim- 
ited coinage  of  silver.  The  object  of  this  bill,  introduced 
and  championed  by  Mr.  Bland,  was  to  make  the  coinage  of 
silver  free  like  that  of  gold.  There  was  to  be  no  limitation 
on  the  amount.  The  mints  were  to  coin  into  standard  dol- 
lars or  form  into  bars  all  silver  deposited,  as  the  owner  de- 
manded. The  owner  was  to  receive  for  his  silver  either 
standard  silver  dollars  or  Treasury  notes  based  on  the  same. 
Such  Treasury  notes  were  to  be  a legal  tender.  This  re- 
monetized silver  and  established  bi-metallism.  It  gave  to 
the  holder  of  silver  bullion  one  standard,  legal-tender  dollar 
for  every  seventy  cents  worth  of  silver  he  held  and  brought 
to  the  mint.  It  was  a captivating  measure  for  silver  miners 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  189I 


5* 

and  silver  dealers.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  pleasing 
to  those  who  thought  an  enlarged,  even  if  a cheaper,  cur- 
rency a panacea  for  the  ills,  debt  and  hard  times.  The  Act 
was  in  keeping  with  a popular  cry.  It  was  believed  to  be 
so  purely  Democratic  as  that  no  doubt  could  exist  of  its 
passage  in  a House  where  two-thirds  of  the  members  were 
Democrats.  But  after  animated  debate,  a halt  was  called. 
Democracy,  after  all,  was  not  such  a unit  as  had  been  sup- 
posed. Whatever  the  real  sentiment  respecting  it  may  have 
been,  it  was  not  deemed  politic  to  commit  the  party  to  it  by 
passing  it,  at  that  particular  juncture.  Enough  Democrats 
swung  to  the  Republican  position  respecting  it  to  side-track 
it,  for  the  time  being.  But  it  had  gone  too  far  to  lessen  its 
importance  as  a political  issue.  Its  friends  will  not  brook 
the  treatment  they  received.  The  Republicans  will  refuse 
to  be  hoodwinked  by  the  postponement  of  a measure  for  the 
sake  of  expediency.  Therefore  the  question  of  free  coinage 
cannot  escape  being  an  issue  in  the  Campaign  of  1892,  and 
perhaps  more  of  an  issue  than  if  some  decisive  action 
had  been  taken  on  it  in  the  House,  when  such  action  was 
fully  expected. 

Any  other  issue  than  the  two  thus  reviewed  will  be  in  the 
nature  of  a side  issue.  The  Republicans  will,  of  course, 
urge  the  question  of  full  and  fair  expression  by  ballot  in  all 
the  States.  They  are  bound  to  do  this,  but  it  is  not  vital 
to  their  cause,  in  the  presence  of  overshadowing  issues. 
Judging  from  the  sentiment  evoked  by  the  recent  bill  in  Con- 
gress, which  came  to  be  known  as  the  “ Force  Bill,”  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  time  has  arrived  for  legislative  insis- 
tence on  a method  of  voting  in  advance  of  that  which  pre- 
vails. A full,  free  and  righteous  ballot  requires  a con- 
science. Where  customs  and  prejudices  are  rife,  law  is 
inefficient.  It  is  always  right  to  educate  a sentiment  against 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  189I  59 

a wrong.  In  so  far  as  the  campaign  offers  opportunity  for 
this,  it  should  be  taken  advantage  of.  But  in  the  existing 
state  of  public  mind,  a direct  issue  on  the  question  of  a free 
ballot  and  full,  honest  count,  would  be  a doubtful  one  for 
those  who  assumed  the  affirmative.  Even  though  moral 
sentiment  be  agreed  upon  the  outcrop  of  such  an  issue,  the 
factitious  reasons  for  a different  result  are  too  numerous  to 
be  withstood.  Prejudice  is  yet  profound  among  the  lower 
strata  of  voters.  The  race  instinct  is  hard  to  eliminate.  The 
tradition  of  state-rights  has  survived  the  war  to  an  alarming 
extent.  Upon  these  can  be  built  an  opposition  which  is 
susceptible  of  withstanding  any  onslaught,  as  things  exist. 
Indeed,  it  is  possible  that  Democracy  will  not  hesitate  to 
drive  home  upon  Republicanism  the  fact  that  it  cham- 
pioned interference  with  State  Rights  as  to  the  ballot,  and 
will  seek  to  make  more  capital  out  of  it  than  the  Republi- 
cans can  expect  to  make  out  of  the  converse.  So  equal  must 
such  an  issue  be,  as  respects  votes,  and  in  the  coming  cam- 
paign, that  it  will  not  serve  to  divert  either  party  from  those 
which  promise  more  immediate  and  substantial  results. 

As  to  economy  of  public  expenditure,  the  Democrats 
have  a case  out  of  which  they  will  make  the  most.  In  this, 
they  will  throw  the  Republicans  on  the  defensive.  The 
“ Billion  Dollar  Congress  ” is  an  awe-inspiring  phrase.  It 
will  reach  far  and  require  a world  of  explanation.  A “ Nickel 
Congress  ” or  a “ Five-Cent  Congress  ” is  not  nearly  so 
catchy,  and,  to  the  “ ear  of  the  groundling,”  is  hardly  an 
effective  offset.  But  the  changes  will  be  rung  on  these 
phiases  for  all  they  are  worth.  We  shall  hear  more  of  the 
curse  and  blessing  of  extravagance,  more  of  the  beauty 
and  hideousness  of  parsimony  than  ever  before.  There  will 
be  no  more  interesting  side  issue.  It  is  one  that  even  the 
commonest  stump-orator  can  make  something  out  of.  It 


6o 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


does  not  involve  a high  degree  of  logic,  and  the  imagination 
may  readily  become  the  reservoir  of  facts  respecting  it. 

Opinions  of  Political  Leaders  on  the  Issue  of  the 
Campaign. 

Senator  James  McMillan,  Mich. : 

“ There  are  three  questions  which  are  now  uppermost  in 
the  public  mind,  and  which  must  continue  to  enter  into  every 
campaign,  so  long  as  opinions  in  regard  to  them  differ  widely. 
These  three  are  the  tariff,  the  finances,  and  the  franchise. 
The  United  States  has  made  a virtue  of  what  was  at  first  a 
political  necessity,  and  by  means  of  a protective  tariff  has 
been  able  to  diversify  its  industries,  and  to  keep  the  standard 
of  wages  comparatively  high. 

“ In  the  McKinley  Law,  so  called,  the  theory  of  protec- 
tion has  been  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion.  Articles 
which  can  be  manufactured  or  produced  in  this  country  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  supply  our  own  needs  are  brought 
under  the  shelter  of  a protective  tariff,  leaving  competition 
among  our  own  people  to  regulate  prices.  Those  articles 
which  from  climatic  or  other  reasons  cannot  be  produced  in 
this  country  in  sufficient  quantities  to  regulate  the  price — 
in  value  equal  to  a little  more  than  half  the  imports — are 
put  upon  the  free  list.  The  Republican  party  believes  this 
to  be  the  true  theory  of  the  tariff.  Still  more  important  than 
the  additional  symmetry  which  the  McKinley  Bill  gives 
to  the  protective  tariff  is  the  provision  establishing  re- 
ciprocity. 

“ The  question  of  finances  will  be  a disturbing  one.  The 
Republican  party  will  stand  by  the  present  law  regarding 
silver. 

“ In  the  public  mind  the  day  has  gone  by  for  a resort  to 
stringent  laws  which,  however  just  in  themselves,  must  de- 


Hon.  William  J.  Bryan. 

Born  in  Salem,  111.,  March  19,  1860 ; graduated  at  Illinois  College, 
1881  ; attended  Union  Law  College,  Chicago,  two  years;  admitted  to 
bar,  and  began  practice  in  Jacksonville;  moved  to  Lincoln,  Neb., 
October  1,  1887,  and  continued  profession;  elected  to  Fifty-second 
Congress,  as  a Democrat,  by  a majority  of  6713,  in  a district  which  two 
years  before  gave  over  3400  Republican  majority ; an  able  constitutional 
lawyer;  rose  to  immediate  prominence  in  the  House  by  eloquent  advocacy 
of  free  silver  coinage  and  the  principles  of  tariff  reduction  and  reform ; 
favors  election  of  U.  S.  Senators  by  the  people,  and  revenue  by  means 
of  an  income  tax  ; sympathizes  with  the  masses  who  have  been  neglected 
in  legislation ; popular  with  his  party  and  in  his  community. 

(6i) 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


63 


pend  for  their  enforcement  upon  a power  outside  of,  and 
opposed  to,  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  the  State  in  which 
the  colored  vote  is  suppressed.  Still,  while  the  existing 
condition  of  affairs  at  the  South  gives  that  section  repre- 
sentation  in  Congress  and  in  the  Electoral  Colleges  out  of 
all  proportion  to  its  voting  strength,  the  franchise  will  not 
cease  to  be  a national  issue.” 

The  Hon.  Benton  McMillin,  Tenn. : 

“ The  records  of  the  two  parties  have,  in  a great  measure, 
made  the  issues  for  1892.  The  principles  of  the  Democratic 
party  are  as  old  as  the  Government.  They  are  the  defence 
of  the  citizen  in  his  personal  liberty ; the  upholding  of  the 
Constitution,  and  the  support  of  the  General  Government 
and  the  State  governments  in  all  their  integrity.  During 
the  present  administration  the  Republican  party  has  had  full 
control  of  every  branch  of  the  Government.  Hence,  this 
party’s  unrestrained  action  may  be  taken  as  the  most  recent 
and  most  accurate  exposition  of  its  principles.  They  have 
further  made  that  action  their  platform  by  indorsing  it  in 
their  various  State  conventions  and  making  their  contests 
upon  it.  The  following  will  be  the  issues  separating  the 
two  parties : 

“ I.  Shall  there  be  reckless  prodigality,  or  wise  economy 
in  public  expenses  ? 

“ II.  Shall  the  peopleremain  free,  or  be  enslaved  through 
* Force  Bills,’  by  turning  the  elections  of  the  legislative 
branch  of  the  Government  over  to  the  judicial  ? 

“ III.  Shall  the  people  be  robbed,  and  commerce  be  de- 
stroyed by  excessive  rates  of  duty  ? 

“ The  battle  is  on,  and  Democracy  will  stand,  as  ever,  in 
favor  of  the  rights  of  the  masses  as  against  the  exactions  of 
the  classes.  Our  cause  is  just,  and  will  triumph.” 


64 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


Senator  Frank  Hiscock,  New  York: 

“ The  legislation  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress  fixing  the 
present  custom  duties  will  afford  the  leading  issue.  The 
Republican  Convention  will  approve  that  legislation,  and  the 
Democratic  Convention  will  denounce  it;  but,  in  my  judg- 
ment, the  actual  contention  upon  this  great  economic  ques- 
tion will  be  made  by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Fifty-second  Congress.  The  Democrats  are  largely  in  the 
majority  there.  The  constituencies  of  the  Democratic  mem- 
bers will  expect,  the  Republican  party  will  have  a right  to 
demand,  and  the  country  will  exact  of  them  an  expression 
in  the  form  of  a Bill,  of  the  changes  which  they  propose  in 
our  present  tariff  laws.  The  law-making  power  must,  there- 
fore, make  the  issues  of  the  next  national  election  upon  this 
subject. 

" Doubtless  a majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  present  Congress  would  vote  to  open  our  mints  for 
the  free  coinage  of  the  silver  of  the  world.  Still  I doubt  if 
that  question  will  be  emphasized  in  the  next  Presidential 
canvass.  New  York’s  electoral  vote  will  doubtless  be  re- 
quired for  the  election  of  a Democratic  President,  and  the 
Democrats  in  the  House  will  hardly  wish  to  handicap  their 
party  in  New  York  by  passing  a free-coinage  Bill. 

“ The  Republican  party  will  stand  stoutly  by  the  policy 
and  acts  of  the  present  administration  to  promote  reciprocal 
trade  with  foreign  countries  under  the  Aldrich  Amendment 
of  the  Customs  Law  of  1890.” 

The  Hon.  R.  P.  Bland,  Mo. : 

“ Undoubtedly  the  question  of  tariff  reform  will  be  the 
most  absorbing  issue  in  the  coming  Presidential  election. 
But  it  will  not  be  the  only  question.  The  Republican  ‘ Force 
Bill  ’ has  put  in  jeopardy  home  rule  and  local  self-govern- 
ment. The  money  question,  in  the  shape  of  the  free  coinage 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892.  65 

of  silver,  will  not  down  at  the  bidding  of  either  party.  The 
people  will  make  it  an  issue. 

“ The  opponents  of  free  coinage  profess  to  deprecate  the 
agitation  of  the  question ; yet  they  craftily  demand  of  both 
parties  a nominee  practically  pledged  in  advance  to  veto  any 
free-coinage  Bill  that  may  be  passed.  If  the  majority  of  the 
American  people  want  free  coinage  of  silver,  they  ought  to 
have  it.” 

Senator  Eugene  Hale,  Me. : 

“ The  Republican  party  began  furnishing  the  issues  for 
Presidential  elections  in  1856,  and  will  furnish  them  for 
1892. 

“ The  doctrine  of  protection  will  have  a front  place  in  the 
contest.  In  1892  it  will  be  enlarged  and  popularized  by  its 
new  ally,  reciprocity. 

“ A sound,  stable  currency,  maintaining  gold  and  silver  at 
par,  and  utilizing  both  metals,  will  be  another  issue. 

“ The  restriction  of  criminal  and  pauper  immigration  is 
another  issue. 

“The  encouragement  of  American  steamship  lines  by  judi- 
cious subsidies,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  navy,  will  con- 
stitute another  issue. 

“ If  we  cannot  prevail  with  these  issues,  the  party  may  as 
well  go  out  of  business.” 

The  Hon.  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge : 

“Assuming  that  the  Democratic  party  has  not  already 
thrown  away  the  Presidency,  upon  what  issue  can  it  win, 
and  has  it  the  wisdom  to  select,  and  skill  to  compel  the 
battle  to  be  made  upon  it  ? 

“ In  the  approaching  canvass  the  main  issue  between  the 
parties  will  be  the  question  of  taxation,  and  the  success  of 
the  Democratic  party  may  depend  upon  the  earnestness  and 
aggressiveness  it  shows  in  the  present  House  on  that  ques- 
tion. We  cannot  win  upon  the  do-nothing  policy,  for  if  the 


66 


CAMPAIGN  ISSUES  OF  1892. 


country  gets  the  idea  that  our  party  in  Congress  is  on  dress 
parade,  that  its  fight  on  the  tariff  is  simply  a sham  battle 
that  marks  the  evolution  of  an  army  in  time  of  peace,  and 
that  we  are  firing  blank  cartridges,  the  Presidency  is  lost 
before  the  canvass  begins.  And  if  the  Republicans  are 
skillful  enough  to  take  advantage  of  our  division  on  the 
money  question  to  force  that  issue  to  the  front,  we  may  find 
it  impossible  to  regain  the  confidence  so  lost. 

“ The  campaign  promises  to  be  one  of  great  earnestness, 
based  mainly  on  the  substitution  for  the  McKinley  Bill  of  a 
Bill  embodying  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  celebrated 
message  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  in  the  teachings  of  those  who 
are  peculiarly  known  as  tariff  reformers.” 

Governor  William  R.  Merriam,  Minn. : 

“ The  Republican  party  must  stand  by  the  two  important 
questions  now  under  consideration,  and  already  assumed  as 
party  principles.  I refer  to  the  question  of  free  coinage  and 
of  the  policy  of  protection.  I name  them  in  this  order,  as  I 
look  upon  the  financial  question  as  the  more  important  issue 
at  stake. 

“ The  Republican  party  has  been  uniformly  in  favor  of 
honest  money ; and  has  determined  to  oppose  free  coinage 
of  silver,  unless  the  nations  of  the  earth  agree  upon  some 
basis  whereon  the  two  metals  can  flow  side  by  side.  It  can- 
not afford  to  change  its  position  on  this  important  question. 
Let  it  be  understood  that  its  policy  will  be  persistently  and 
continuously  opposed  to  the  coinage  of  silver  whenever  this 
metal  is  not  at  a parity  with  gold. 

“The  Governor  of  New  York  in  his  recent  speech  at 
Elmira  practically  means  that  he  proposes  to  stand  upon  the 
platform  of  free  coinage.  The  Democratic  leaders,  as  a 
s whole,  favor  placing  a free-silver  plank  in  their  next  platform, 
and  the  campaign  will  no  doubt  be  largely  fought  out  on 
that  line.” 


Born  near  Greenville,  S.  C.,  March  8,  1836 ; educated  at  South  Caro- 
lina College ; admitted  to  Edgefield  bar,  1857 ; elected  to  South  Caro- 
lina Legislature,  1860 ; served  as  Major-General  in  Confederate  army 
and  lost  right  leg  in  battle;  elected  to  South  Carolina  Legislature,  1866; 
candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  1870;  elected  United  States  Senator, 
1876;  re-elected,  1882  and  1889;  chairman  of  Committee  on  Five 
Civilized  Tribes  of  Indians  and  member  of  Committees  on  Foreign  Re- 
lations, Naval  Affairs,  Congressional  Library  and  University  of  United 
States. 


(67) 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


Free-trade  exists  only  in  theory.  There  is  no  actual 
free-trade  in  all  the  world. 

Those  who  ground  their  arguments  on  the  abstract  doc- 
trine of  free-trade  are  free-traders. 

Those  who  admit  the  necessity  or  propriety  of  a tariff  for 
revenue  only  are  free-traders.  All  the  political  economists 
of  the  free-trade  school — Adam  Smith,  Mill,  Ricardo,  Say, 
List,  Laveleye,  Wells,  Wayland — say  that  a government  has 
a right  to  levy  a tax  for  its  support,  and  that  the  tariff  is  the 
least  onerous  and  easiest  collected  tax. 

A tariff  for  revenue  with  incidental  protection  begins  to 
draw  the  line  between  the  free-trader  and  the  protectionist. 

A “ Tariff  Reformer  ” is  either  an  outright  free-trader,  or 
a believer  in  a revenue  tariff  with  incidental  protection.  He 
may  be  none  the  less  a protectionist. 

Politics  confuse  these  terms.  American  politics  are  espe- 
cially loose  respecting  them.  We  change  both  theories  and 
terms  with  the  rapidity  of  a new  and  enterprising  country. 

In  England  “ free-trade  ” and  “ free-trader  ” carry  no  re- 
proach. The  meaning  of  the  terms  is  understood,  as  well 
as  the  doctrine. 

In  political  economy  there  is  no  doubt  about  terms.  The 
free-trader  and  protectionist  are  what  they  profess  to  be. 

The  early  economic  writers  were  mostly  free-traders. 
Protection,  which  all  nations  practiced,  did  not  seem  to  ad- 
mit of  theories  or  encourage  a literature. 

It  is  well  to  understand  that  the  astounding  revelations  in 
connection  with  the  development  of  the  United  States  have 
4 (69) 


7o 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


shaken  all  the  old  theories  respecting  free-trade  and  protec 
tion,  and  made  a new  political  economy  possible,  if  not 
necessary. 

A primary  law  of  political  economy  is  that  an  increase 
of  the  productiveness  of  the  country  implies  an  increase  of 
its  capital.  No  law  can  create  capital. 

A second  law  is  that  productiveness  depends  on  the  num- 
ber of  laborers.  Legislation  cannot  create  men. 

A third  law  is  that  productiveness  depends  on  the  stim- 
ulus to  labor.  Protection  changes  only  the  mode  of  labor. 
If  it  attracts  manufacturers,  it  repels  agriculturalists,  and, 
vice  versa . What  it  pays  as  a stimulus  to  one  industry  it 
subtracts  from  another.  Hence  there  is  no  gain  to  labor 
as  a whole. 

Protection  increases  the  price  of  an  article.  As  price  in- 
creases, demand  diminishes.  The  less  an  article  is  wanted, 
the  less  it  will  be  produced.  The  demand  for  labor  dimin- 
ishes. The  price  of  labor  diminishes.  The  stimulus  to 
labor  is  decreased. 

The  watchword  of  free-traders,  or  freedom  of  exchange, 
is  Laissez  faire  ; laissez  passer : “ leave  it  alone.”  This  is 
nature.  Allow  every  one  to  buy  and  sell  where  he  can  do 
so  most  advantageously,  whether  in  or  out  of  his  own 
country. 

Revenue  from  customs  on  foreign  goods  may  be  per- 
mitted by  the  doctrine  of  laissez  faire , but  it  is  a tax,  and  a 
bad  one. 

To  establish  duties  under  the  pretext  of  protecting 
national  industries  is  an  iniquitous  measure  fatal  to  the  gen- 
eral interests. 

By  forcing  a consumer  to  buy  at  a higher  price  than  he 
would  have  otherwise,  or  elsewhere,  to  pay,  is  to  perpetrate 
the  injustice  of  taxing  one  class  for  the  benefit  of  another. 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


71 


Political  economy  draws  no  distinction  between  classes. 
So,  if  it  be  said  that  protection  by  means  of  tariff  duties  has 
for  its  purpose  the  favor  of  labor,  it  favors  a class,  none  the 
less. 

True  industrial  economy  aims  not  to  increase  but  dimin- 
ish labor.  If,  with  what  I can  earn  in  one  day,  I can  buy  a 
yard  of  cloth  from  a foreigner,  why  force  me  to  spend  two 
days’  labor  for  the  same  ? 

An  injury  is  done  to  humanity  by  a system  which  forces 
men  into  manufactories.  The  custom  house  snatches  men, 
women  and  children  from  open  air  tasks,  and  chains  them 
in  gloomy  workshops  for  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  out  of 
twenty-four. 

Free-trade  applies  to  whole  peoples  the  principle  of  the 
division  of  labor,  assures  them  all  that  such  principle  can 
bestow,  and  thereby  enhances  their  welfare. 

When  each  is  employed  at  what  he  can  do  best,  the  indi- 
vidual shares  are  greatest. 

When  each  is  compelled  by  legislation  to  do  what  he  must, 
and  what  he  may  not  have  aptitude  for,  the  aggregate  of 
labor  will  not  be  so  great,  and  the  individual  will  be  worse 
off. 

So  when  each  country  or  nation  fails  to  devote  its  ener- 
gies to  what  nature  most  favors,  it  will  not  bring  to  market 
the  maximum  obtained  by  the  minimum  of  toil,  but  the  re- 
sults of  a diminished  productivity. 

No  man  can  be  so  self-sufficient  as  to  confine  himself  to 
the  manufacture  of  his  food,  clothing,  furniture,  books,  etc. 
The  nation  is  no  better  off  than  the  man. 

Protection  obliges  me  to  grow  wheat,  without  reference 
to  soil.  But  in  nature  my  soil  may  be  sandy,  and  I could 
better  afford  to  raise  something  else  in  exchange  for  wheat, 
which  grows  better  on  my  neighbor’s  clay  soil. 


72 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


Commerce  is  always  an  exchange  of  produce  against  pro- 
duce. So  much  exported,  so  much  imported.  Therefore 
the  foreigner  cannot  inundate  us  with  goods.  The  differ- 
ent countries  cannot  sell  more  than  they  buy. 

Industrial  progress  begets  competition.  Don’t  limit  it  at 
the  confines  of  a state  or  nation.  The  widest  competition 
is  the  most  universal  profit.  Monopoly  means  sloth  ; pro- 
tection, routine.  The  manufacturer  who  is  forced  to  keep 
hold  of  the  home  market  will  conquer  the  world. 

A railroad  uniting  two  countries  facilitates  exchanges ; 
customs  dues  impede  them. 

Free-trade  has  for  its  object  the  diminution  of  labor. 
Machinery  has  the  same  object.  Protection,  therefore, 
should  demand  the  abolition  of  machinery,  in  order  to  be 
consistent. 

Capital  turns  spontaneously  to  the  most  lucrative  employ- 
ment. Protection  turns  it  to  the  less  lucrative,  and  seeks  to 
make  up  the  difference  by  a tax  on  consumers. 

The  argument  that  a country  should  be  independent  of 
foreigners  in  time  of  war  is  of  no  avail  in  this  era  of  easy 
and  ready  transportation.  Neutral  ships  may  transport  the 
goods  of  belligerents.  The  blockade  of  a nation  is  impos- 
sible. 

The  doctrine  of  free-trade,  like  that  of  protection,  is 
oftentimes  best  sustained  by  attacking  and  exploding  the 
theories  of  the  adversary. 

Modern  politics,  especially  the  politics  of  a free  country 
like  that  of  the  United  States,  are  prolific  of  arguments  and 
phrases  which  greatly  affect  the  stereotyped  theories  of  free- 
trade  and  protection. 

Hence,  having  passed  from  the  ascertained  laws  of  free- 
trade,  as  found  in  the  books,  and  as  built  on  the  experience 
of  foreign  countries,  on  monarchical  conditions,  and  on  a 


TilL 

| 


\ 


Hon.  Wilkinson  Call. 

Born  in  Logan  co.,  Ky.,  January  9,  1834;  adopted  the  legal  profes- 
sion, and  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  after  the  war ; seat  con- 
tested, and  election  declared  invalid;  re-elected,  as  Democrat,  in  1879, 
1885  and  1891 ; election  in  1891  declared  invalid  by  Governor  of  State, 
who  appointed  Hon.  R.  H.  M.  Davidson  ; contest  carried  into  Senate, 
where  it  is  now  being  prosecuted ; case  interesting  as  involving  election 
methods  and  many  points  beyond  established  precedents, 

(74) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


75 


geography,  climatology  and  sociology  different  from  our 
own,  there  is  opportunity  for  new  laws  founded  on  different 
natural  and  commercial  conditions.  This  also  gives  free 
play  to  the  doctrines  respecting  protection. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  are  prepared  for  opinions  and 
assertions  which  have  weight  in  free  discussion,  but  which 
are  somewhat  removed  from  the  seriousness  and  weight  of 
fortified  laws. 

These  are  none  the  less  worthy  of  consideration,  for  even 
if  there  is  no  economic  law  back  of  them,  they  may  fore- 
shadow truths  which  experience  will  ripen  into  economic 
axiom.  As  other  nations,  less  expansive  than  ours,  less 
liberally  endowed  by  nature,  and  altogether  less  advanced 
in  industrial  and  commercial  knowledge  and  opportunity, 
have  formulated  economic  laws,  which  are  quoted  with 
favor  and  accepted  as  final,  so  this  nation  may  well  assume 
to  ascertain  what  is  best  for  itself,  and  to  give  its  conclu- 
sions the  form  of  economic  axiom.  • 

In  this  point  of  view  the  American  political  economist 
becomes  an  impressive  and  invaluable  economist,  and  the 
passionate  wisdom  of  the  partisan  something  which  is  crude 
quartz  to  the  view,  yet  with  crystals  of  gold  inside. 

As  instances,  the  protectionist  is  challenged  for  reply  by 
the  declaration  that  the  system  of  protection  is  sustained 
by  the  co-operation  of  its  beneficiaries,  and  that  they  are 
held  together  by  the  “ cohesive  power  of  public  plunder.” 

Similarly,  by  the  declaration  that  the  tariff  is  a tax  upon 
the  consumer,  and  that,  especially,  when  imposed  on  raw 
materials.  Ten  cents  a pound  upon  wool  means  that  the 
consumer  will  have  to  pay  that  much  more  for  the  cloth 
made  of  that  pound. 

So,  when  a tariff  is  declared  to  be  vicious  in  principle 


76 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


that  seeks  to  perpetuate  high  rates.  Hamilton  is  quoted, 
in  1791  : 

“ The  continuance  of  bounties  on  manufactures  long  es- 
tablished must  always  be  of  questionable  policy;  because  a 
presumption  would  arise  in  every  such  case  that  there  were 
natural  and  inherent  impediments  to  success.” 

Clay  is  quoted,  in  1833  : 

“ The  theory  of  protection  supposes,  too,  that  after  a cer- 
tain time  the  protected  arts  will  have  acquired  such  strength 
and  perfection  as  will  enable  them,  subsequently,  unaided 
to  stand  against  foreign  competition.” 

The  theory  that  a tariff  protects  labor  by  furnishing  it 
employment  is  the  old  theory  of  “ the  maximum  of  toil 
and  the  minimum  of  profit,”  whereas  the  true  economic 
theory  is  “ the  minimum  of  toil  and  the  maximum  of  profit.” 

A tariff  favors  a class  and  tends  to  monopolies  and  the 
formation  of  trusts,  with  power  to  regulate  prices  and  bur- 
den consumers. 

A protective  tariff  and  protective  policy  is  not  such  a 
public  policy  as  needs  to  be  supported  by  the  people  at 
large.  The  principle  and  fact  are  denied  that  protection  of 
in  article  by  levying  a duty  on  it  tends  to  cheapen  the  price 
of  the  article,  after  its  manufacture  has  been  established. 

To  defend  protection  is  to  justify  the  taking  of  one  man’s 
money  and  putting  it  in  another’s  pocket. 

The  tariff  that  looks  to  the  protection  of  labor  really  in- 
jures labor  when  it  leads  to  the  production  of  articles  in 
this  country  cheaper  than  abroad. 

Gladstone  defends  free-trade  on  moral  grounds — the  com- 
mercial doing  as  you  would  wish  to  be  done  by. 

Patrick  Henry  said  : 

“ Commerce  should  be  as  free  as  the  winds  of  heaven ; a 
restricted  commerce  is  like  a man  in  chains,  crippled  in  all 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


7 1 


his  movements  and  bowed  to  the  earth ; but  let  him  twist 
the  fetters  from  his  legs  and  he  stands  erect.” 

Protection  has  invoked  many  wars  and  rebellions.  The 
head-spring  of  the  American  Revolution  was  the  Naviga- 
tion Act,  an  English  system  of  protection  which  sacrificed 
to  English  monopoly  the  natural  rights  of  her  colonies. 

In  keeping  with  the  Navigation  Act  were  other  English 
laws  suppressing  important  manufactures  as  well  as  internal 
trade  in  the  colonies.  In  the  land  of  the  beaver  no  man 
could  be  a hatter  unless  he  had  served  seven  years  as  an 
apprentice  at  the  trade.  No  American  hat  could  be  sent 
out  of  one  province  into  another.  Steel  furnaces,  plating 
forges  and  slitting  mills  were  prohibited  as  nuisances.  Lord 
Chatham  said  that  in  a certain  contingency  he  would  pro- 
hibit the  manufacture  in  the  American  Colonies  of  even  so 
much  as  a horseshoe  or  a hobnail.  Lord  Sheffield  declared 
that  the  only  use  England  had  for  the  American  Colonies 
was  “ the  monopoly  of  their  consumption  and  the  carriage 
of  their  produce.”  These  violations  of  natural  law  worked 
their  own  overthrow,  and  the  mother  country  lost  the 
brightest  jewel  in  her  crown.  This  event  led  England  to 
re-examine  her  commercial  system  and  to  adopt  the  policy 
of  free-trade. 

Adam  Smith  completed  his  great  work,  “ Nature  and 
Causes  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,”  the  very  year  America 
declared  her  independence,  1776. 

In  1817,  when  Parliament  repealed  the  duty  on  salt,  the 
agents  of  the  salt  monopolies  plead  for  a prohibitory  duty 
on  it.  “Thus  fell,”  says  Thomas  H.  Benton,  “an  odious, 
impious  and  criminal  tax.” 

“ The  leaven  of  free-trade  principles  continued  to  work 
in  England  under  the  wise  and  skilful  supervision  of  Rich- 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


7$ 

ard  Cobden,  and  reached  its  calminating  triumph  in  the  re- 
peal of  the  Corn  Laws  in  1846.” — Richard  Hawley. 

In  1842  England  exported  goods  to  the  amount  of  $570,- 
000,000,  and  in  1865  to  the  amount  of  $1,815,000,000.  In 
the  same  time  her  imports  rose  from  $326,000,000  to  $909,- 
000,000.  In  1842  the  number  of  articles  subject  to  duty 
was  1,150;  in  1870  only  43  articles  were  subject  to  duty, 
and  the  duty  was  not  protective.  Yet  her  revenue  from 
customs  was  about  the  same  in  1870  as  in  1842.  She  now 
levies  duty  only  on  about  a dozen  articles,  such  as  tea,  coffee, 
tobacco,  spirits,  wines,  etc. 

Hon.  David  A.  Wells  makes  an  argument  for  free-trade, 
or  free  exchange,  thus  : — “ Population  in  the  United  States 
increased  from  i860  to  1870,  22.2  per  cent.  The  products 
of  our  manufactures  increased  in  the  same  period  52  per 
cent.  This  tendency  of  manufacturing  products  to  increase 
faster  than  population  gluts  our  home  markets  and  shows 
the  necessity  for  larger  and  freer  commerce.” 

“ There  is  no  nation,”  says  he,  “ or  country,  or  commu- 
nity, nor  probably  any  one  man,  that  is  not,  by  reason  of 
differences  in  soil,  climate,  physical  or  mental  capacities,  at 
advantage  or  disadvantage  as  respects  some  other  nation, 
country,  community  or  men  in  producing  or  doing  some- 
thing useful.  It  is  only  a brute,  furthermore,  as  economists 
have  long  recognized,  that  can  find  a full  satisfaction  for  its 
desires  in  its  immediate  surroundings ; while  poor  indeed 
must  be  the  man  of  civilization  that  does  not  lay  every 
quarter  of  the  globe  under  contribution  every  morning  for 
his  breakfast.  Hence — springing  out  of  this  diversity  in  the 
powers  of  production,  and  of  wants  in  respect  to  locations 
and  individuals — the  origin  of  trade.  Hence  its  necessity 
and  advantage  ; and  the  man  who  has  not  sufficient  educa- 
tion to  read  the  letters  of  any  printed  book  perceives  by 


Hon.  Joseph  M.  Carey. 

Born  in  Milton,  Delaware,  January  19,  1845 ; educated  at  Fort 
Edward  Collegiate  Institute  and  Union  College ; graduated  Law  De- 
partment Pennsylvania  University  and  admitted  to  bar  in  Philadelphia; 
appointed  District  Attorney  for  Wyoming,  1869 ; Associate  Justice  of 
Wyoming  Supreme  Court,  1871-76 ; Mayor  of  Cheyenne  three  times, 
1881-85  ; elected,  as  a Republican,  to  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses ; 
elected  U.  S.  Senator,  for  Wyoming,  November  15,  1890 ; pioneer  of 
cattle  industiy  in  State ; active  in  securing  admission  of  State ; an  able 
lawyer,  eloquent  orator  and  trusted  statesman;  Chairman  of  Senate 
Committee  on  Education ; member  of  Committees  on  Public  Lands, 
Territories,  Buildings  and  Grounds,  Patents  and  Pacific  R.  R. 

(So) 


Hon.  Leyman  R.  Casey. 

Born  in  Livingston  co.,  N.  Y.,  1837 ; moved  with  parents  to  Ypsilanti, 
Mich.,  and  prepared  for  college ; engaged  for  many  years  in  hardware 
business ; travelled  in  Europe,  and  in  1882  settled  in  North  Dakota  ; 
took  charge  of  affairs  of  Carrington  & Casey  Land  Company  ; acted  as 
Commissioner  to  organize  Foster  Co. ; declined  the  honors  of  public 
office  till  after  admission  of  North  Dakota  as  a State;  elected,  as  a Re- 
publican, to  United  States  Senate,  November  21,  1889;  Chairman  of 
Committee  on  Railroads  and  member  of  Committees  on  Agriculture 
and  Forestry,  Irrigation,  Transportation,  etc. 

(8t) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


83 


instinct,  more  clearly,  as  a general  rule,  than  the  man  of 
civilization,  that  if  he  can  trade  freely,  he  can  better  his  con- 
dition and  increase  the  sum  of  his  happiness ; for  the  first 
thing  the  savage,  when  brought  in  contact  with  civilized 
man,  wants  to  do,  is  to  exchange ; and  the  first  effort  of 
every  new  settlement  in  any  new  country,  after  providing 
temporary  food  and  shelter,  is  to  open  a road  or  other  means 
of  communication  to  some  other  settlement,  in  order  that 
they  may  trade  or  exchange  the  commodities  which  they 
can  produce  to  advantage,  for  the  products  which  some 
others  can  produce  to  greater  advantage.  And,  obeying 
this  same  natural  instinct,  the  heart  of  every  man,  that  has 
not  been  filled  with  prejudice  of  race  or  country,  or  per- 
verted by  talk  about  the  necessity  of  tariffs  and  custom- 
houses, experiences  a pleasurable  emotion  when  it  learns 
that  a new  road  has  been  opened,  a new  railroad  constructed, 
or  that  the  time  of  crossing  the  seas  has  been  greatly  short- 
ened ; and  if  to-day  it  could  be  announced  that  the  problem 
of  aerial  navigation  had  been  solved,  and  that  hereafter 
everybody  could  go  everywhere,  with  all  their  goods  and 
chattels,  for  one-tenth  of  the  cost  and  in  one-tenth  of  the 
time  that  is  now  required,  one  universal  shout  of  jubilation 
would  arise  spontaneously  from  the  whole  civilized  world. 
And  why  ? Simply  because  everybody  would  feel  that 
there  would  be  forthwith  a multitude  of  new  wants,  an  equal 
multitude  of  new  satisfactions,  an  increase  of  business  in 
putting  wants  and  satisfactions  into  the  relations  of  equa- 
tions in  which  one  side  would  balance  the  other,  and  an  in- 
crease of  comfort  and  happiness  everywhere.” 

“All  trade,”  he  says,  “is  at  the  bottom  a matter  of  barter; 
product  being  given  for  product  and  service  for  service ; 
that  in  order  to  sell  we  must  buy,  and  in  order  to  buy  we  must 
sell ; and  that  he  who  won’t  buy  can’t  sell,  and  he  who  won’t 


84 


DOCTRINE  OE  FREE-TRADE. 


sell  can’t  buy.  . . . The  United  States,  for  now  a long  series 
of  years,  has,  in  its  fiscal  policy,  denied  or  ignored  the  truth 
of  the  above  economic,  axiomatic  principles.  It  has  not, 
indeed,  in  so  many  distinct  words  said  to  the  American  pro- 
ducers and  laborers,  You  shall  not  sell  your  products  and 
your  labor  to  the  people  of  other  countries ; but  it  has  em- 
phatically said  to  the  producers  and  laborers  of  other  coun- 
tries, We  do  not  think  it  desirable  that  you  should  sell  your 
products  or  your  labor  in  this  country ; and,  as  far  as  we  can 
interpose  legal  obstructions,  we  don’t  intend  that  you  shall ! 
But  in  shutting  others  out,  we  have  at  the  same  time,  and 
necessarily,  shut  ourselves  in.  And  herein  is  trouble  No.  i. 
The  house  is  too  small,  measured  by  the  power  of  producing, 
for  those  that  live  in  it.  And  remedy  No.  i is  to  be  found 
in  withdrawing  the  bolts,  taking  off  the  locks,  opening  the 
doors,  and  getting  out  and  clear  of  all  restrictions  on  pro- 
ducing and  the  disposal  of  products.” 

Mr.  Wells  illustrates  his  theory  by  the  failure  of  the 
United  States  to  compete  with  England  for  the  trade  of 
Chili,  Argentine  and  other  countries.  For  though  we  could 
place  our  cotton  manufactures  in  those  countries  as  cheaply 
as  England  could,  we  refused  to  take  their  products  freely 
in  turn,  or  except  by  first  imposing  a duty  on  them.  The 
position  assumed  by  Mr.  Wells  that  “ all  trade  is  at  the  bot- 
tom a matter  of  barter,”  ignores,  in  part,  the  function  of 
money  in  the  making  of  exchanges.  He  was  answered 
thus  by  a “ Protection  ” writer : 

“ The  function  of  money,  or  its  representatives,  is  that  of 
enabling  indirect  exchanges  to  be  made.  The  shoemaker 
buys  his  cabbages  from  one  man  and  sells  his  shoes  to  an- 
other. Trade,  in  place  of  being  a right  line  between  two 
points,  becomes,  so  to  speak,  triangular  and  polygonal. 

" This  applies  pre-eminently  to  nations,  which  are  aggre- 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


$5 


gations  of  individuals,  each  of  whom  acts  according  to  his 
individual  interest,  in  place  of  being,  as  Mr.  Wells  assumes, 
units  actuated  by  a common  purpose,  and  asking,  before 
they  buy  a yard  of  calico,  whether  a half-pound  of  copper 
regulus  will  be  taken  in  barter.  If  a Chilian  merchant  can 
buy  a salable  bale  of  Fall  River  cloths  cheaper  than  a simi- 
lar bale  from  Manchester,  he  will  not  reject  it  because  the 
Fall  River  mill  cannot  buy  Chilian  copper.  He  knows  that 
the  copper  will  be  sold  to  Swansea,  and  that  the  resulting 
bill  of  exchange  on  London  will  settle  his  debt  at  Fall 
River  as  readily  as  at  Manchester.  He  knows,  moreover, 
that  if  he  patriotically  refuses  to  buy  the  Fall  River  goods, 
his  competitor  across  the  street  will  do  so  and  will  under- 
sell him.  All  this  is  the  A B C of  trade,  and  no  pathetic 
groaning  over  the  55,000,000  yards  of  cotton  supplied  by 
England,  in  comparison  with  the  5,000,000  yards  supplied 
by  the  United  States  in  1874,  will  get  rid  of  it.” 

Again,  Mr.  Wells’  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
the  removal  of  restrictions  on  trade,  which  restrictions  are 
occasioned  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  did  not  in  fact  tend 
to  make  countries  buy  of  the  United  States,  even  though 
the  United  States  was  their  best  customer.  Thus,  in  1876, 
as  an  instance,  the  United  States  bought  of  Brazil  coffee 
and  India  rubber,  on  which  no  duties  were  levied,  to  the 
amount  of  $44,000,000,  and  sent  in  turn  only  $7,500,000  of 
her  own  products.  This  state  of  affairs  Mr.  Wells  ascribes 
to  the  absence  of  shipping  facilities  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  which  absence  he  accounts  for  by  reason  of 
the  same  mistaken  fiscal  and  commercial  policy  he  had 
been  speaking  against. 

Free-traders  deny  that  protection  tends  to  keep  up  the 
price  of  labor.  Germany  and  France  demand  high  duties 
in  order  to  protect  their  ill-paid  laborers  from  competition 


86 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


with  the  better  paid  labor  of  England.  Therefore,  low 
wages  do  not  enable  a country  to  compete  with  another 
country.  As  to  this  country,  such  are  the  advantages  of 
combined  capital  and  labor  that  the  workmen  are  capable 
of  a larger  output  than  in  other  countries,  and  this  enables 
the  employer  to  afford  them  better  wages.  The  general 
high  rate  of  wages  with  us  is  due  to  the  productiveness  of 
labor,  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  energy  and  efficiency  of 
our  laborers,  the  extended  use  of  machinery  and  our  great 
natural  resources. 

Prof.  Taussig  lays  down  the  doctrine  that  it  is  wrong  to 
limit  duties  to  articles  which  can  be  produced  in  this  coun- 
try. Many  of  such  articles,  such  as  wool,  iron  and  silks, 
are  in  the  nature  of  raw  material  and  enter  into  the  manu- 
facture of  other  articles.  Tea,  coffee  and  sugar  are  entered 
free  of  duty.  A duty  on  these  would  have  no  such  effect 
as  a duty  on  iron,  namely,  that  of  turning  the  industry  of 
the  country  into  unproductive  channels.  If  revenue  must 
be  raised  by  duties  on  imports,  those  duties  should  fall  on 
articles  not  produced  in  this  country,  just  as  Ae  internal 
taxes  fall  on  tobacco  and  spirits. 

During  the  thirty  years  that  the  English  corn  laws  were 
in  existence  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer  continually  de- 
clined. Farm  labor  suffered  in  proportion.  Artisans  and 
laborers  in  manufactories  were  reduced  to  penury.  The 
peace  of  the  country,  and  even  the  existence  of  the  govern- 
ment, were  threatened. 

Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  had  changed  from  Protection  to 
Free-trade  and  had  championed  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  said  on  retiring  from  power : " I shall  surrender 
power  severely  censured  by  those  who,  from  no  interested 
motives,  adhere  to  Protection,  considering  it  essential  to 
the  welfare  and  interests  of  the  country.  I shall  leave  a 


Hon.  William  E.  Chandler. 

Born  at  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  December  28,  1835 ; graduated  at 
Harvard  Law  School  and  admitted  to  bar,  1855  ; rep«rter  of  Supreme 
Court,  1859;  member  of  New  Hampshire  Legislature,  1862-63-64; 
Speaker  of  House,  1863-64 ; Solicitor  aind  Judge  Advocate-General 
of  Navy  Department,  1865  ; First  Assistant  Secretary  of  Treasury,  June 
17,  1865-November  30,  1867  ; member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  1876;  elected  to  New  Hampshire  Legislature, 
1881  ; appointed  Solicitor-General  by  President  Garfield,  1881,  and  re- 
jected by  Senate  ; appointed  Secretary  of  Navy  by  President  Arthur, 
April  12,  1882,  and  served  till  March  7,  1885;  elected  as  Republican 
to  United  States  Senate,  June  14,  1887;  re-elected  June  18,  1889; 
Chairman  of  Committee  on  Immigration  and  member  of  Committees  on 
Inter-State  Commerce,  Naval  Affairs,  Privileges  and  Elections. 

(«7) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


89 


name  execrated  by  every  monopolist  who,  from  less  honor- 
able motives,  clamors  for  Protection,  because  it  conduces  to 
his  own  individual  benefit.  But,  it  may  be,  that  I shall 
leave  a name  sometimes  remembered  with  expressions  of 
good  will  in  the  abodes  of  those  whose  lot  is  to  labor, 
and  to  earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows,  when 
they  shall  recruit  their  strength  with  abundant  and  untaxed 
food,  the  sweeter  because  it  is  no  longer  leavened  with  a 
sense  of  injustice.” 

The  entire  doctrine  of  Free-trade  was  confirmed  by  reso- 
lution in  the  British  House  of  Commons  in  1852,  and  the 
Protectionists  gave  up  the  battle. 

In  the  United  States,  from  1824  to  1833,  the  demands  of 
Protectionists  threatened  the  peace  of  the  nation,  just  as 
their  demands  did  in  England. 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  tariff  of 
1833,  President  Jackson  said  in  his  message  of  that  year: 
“ Those  who  take  an  enlarged  view  of  the  condition  of  our 
country  must  be  satisfied  that  the  policy  of  Protection  must 
be  ultimately  limited  to  those  articles  of  domestic  manu- 
facture which  are  indispensable  to  our  safety  in  time  of  war. 
Within  this  scope,  on  a reasonable  scale,  it  is  recommended 
by  every  consideration  of  patriotism  and  duty,  which  will 
always,  doubtless,  secure  for  it  a liberal  support ; but  be- 
yond this  object  we  have  already  seen  the  operation  of  the 
system  productive  of  discontent.  In  some  sections  of  the 
Union  its  influence  is  deprecated  as  tending  to  concentrate 
wealth  in  few  hands  and  as  creating  those  germs  of  de- 
pendence and  vice  which  in  other  countries  have  character- 
ized the  existence  of  monopolies  and  proved  so  destructive 
of  liberty  and  the  public  good.  A large  proportion  of  the 
public  in  one  section  of  the  Union  declares  it  not  only  in- 
expedient on  these  grounds,  but  as  disturbing  the  equal 


QO 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


relations  of  capital  by  legislation  and  therefore  unconstitu- 
tional and  unjust.” 

Said  Senator  Rowan,  of  Kentucky,  in  1828:  “It  is  in 
vain  that  Protection  is  called  the  'American  System.’ 
Names  do  not  alter  things.  There  is  but  one  American 
system,  and  that  is  delineated  in  the  State  and  Federal  Con- 
stitutions. It  is  the  system  of  equal  rights  secured  by  the 
Constitution — a system  which  instead  of  subjecting  the 
labor  of  some  to  taxation  with  a view  to  enrich  others,  se- 
cures to  all  the  proceeds  of  their  labor,  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion except  for  the  support  of  the  protecting  powers  of  the 
government.” 

As  chairman  of  the  “ Committee  on  Manufactures  ” in 
1832,  John  Quincy  Adams  said  : — “ The  doctrine  that  duties 
of  import  seem  to  cheapen  the  price  of  the  article  on  which 
they  are  levied,  seems  to  conflict  with  the  first  dictates  of 
common  sense.  The  duty  constitutes  a part  of  the  price  of 
the  whole  mass  of  the  article  in  the  market.  It  is  substan- 
tially paid  upon  the  article  of  domestic  manufacture,  as  well 
as  upon  that  of  foreign  production.  Upon  one  it  is  a bounty, 
upon  the  other  a burden,  and  the  repeal  of  the  tax  must 
operate  as  an  equivalent  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  article 

whether  foreign  or  domestic We  say  so  long  as  the 

importation  continues,  the  duty  must  be  paid  by  the  pur- 
chaser of  the  article.” 

In  1 846  George  M.  Dallas  said  : — “ This  exercise  of  the 
taxing  (tariff)  power  was  originally  intended  to  be  tem- 
porary. The  design  was  to  foster  feeble  infant  manufactures, 
especially  such  as  were  essential  for  the  defence  of  the  coun- 
try in  time  of  war.  In  this  design  the  people  have  per- 
severed until  these  saplings  have  taken  root,  become  vigorous, 
expanded  and  powerful,  and  are  prepared  to  enter  with  con- 
fidence the  field  of  fair,  free  and  universal  competition.” 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


91 


Protection  is  responsible  for  the  evils  resulting  from  a 
violation  of  law  known  as  smuggling.  This  practice,  or 
crime,  is  as  baneful  and  disastrous  to  the  honest  tradesmen 
as  the  competition  of  free-trade  is  healthful  and  beneficial. 

Taking  the  two  decades,  1840  to  1850,  and  1850  to  i860, 
and  regarding  the  first  as  a period  which  was  most  affected 
by  the  high  tariff  of  1842,  and  the  last  as  most  affected  by 
the  free-trade  tariff  of  1846,  the  contrast  is  in  favor  of  the 
last  decade.  During  the  non-protective  period  cotton  manu- 
factures increased  130  per  cent.,  woollen  manufactures  in- 
creased 62  per  cent.,  and  mostly  between  1857  and  i860, 
when  the  cheaper  grades  of  wool  were  admitted  free*  The 
year  i860  saw  the  manufacture  of  913,000  tons  of  pig-iron 
at  good  prices,  or  100,000  tons  more  than  any  previous 
year.  In  i860  the  aggregate  of  our  exports  showed  an  in- 
crease of  200  per  cent,  in  ten  years.  The  decade  between 
1850  and  i860  showed  an  increase  of  agricultural  produc- 
tions of  100  per  cent,  over  the  previous  decade.  In  i860 
our  total  exports  were  $400,000,000,  or  $43,500,000  more 
than  any  previous  year ; and  our  imports  were  $362,000,000, 
a much  larger  amount  than  any  previous  year.  We  con- 
sumed far  more  sugar,  tea  and  coffee,  per  capita,  during  the 
free-trade  tariff  decade  than  the  previous  one,  and  also  more 
than  between  the  years  of  i860  and  1868,  years  of  protec- 
tion. Farms  increased  in  value  103  per  cent,  between  1850 
and  i860.  Farm  products  increased  from  75  to  100  per 
cent.  The  products  of  all  our  manufactures  was  $553,000,000 
in  1850;  in  i860,  it  was  $1,009,000,000.  From  1840  to 
1850  the  real  and  personal  property  in  the  United  States  in- 
creased 80  per  cent. ; between  1850  and  i860  it  increased 
126  per  cent.  At  no  time  prior  to  1850-1860  had  the  cap- 
ital of  the  nation  increased  so  fast,  and  nothing  demonstrates 
so  forcibly  the  success  of  free-trade  principles  in  the  United 


92 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


States.  In  1850  there  were  872  banks;  in  i860,  1562; 
while  banking  capital  increased  from  $227,500,000  to 
$422,000,000.  Vast  sums  were  expended  in  railroad  build- 
ing during  the  decade — 21,613  miles  being  built,  as  against 
904  miles  between  1842  and  1846. 

Protective  duties  on  wool  depress  the  price  of  domestic 
wool  and  injure  wool-growers.  The  reason  is  that  when  the 
supply  of  wool-growing  countries  is  shut  out  of  our  market, 
it  floods  Europe  at  so  low  a figure  as  to  enable  European 
manufacturers  to  make  the  finer  class  of  goods  and  sell  them 
to  us,  duty  paid,  at  a lower  figure  than  we  can  afford  to 
make  them.  The  price  of  American  wool  has  not  risen 
with  higher  tariffs. 

By  the  time  Protection  pays  the  penalty  of  over-produc- 
tion, it  makes  it  too  costly  as  an  experiment.  James 
Buchanan  said  in  1846: — “Our  Domestic  Manufactures 
have  been  saved  by  the  election  of  James  K.  Polk  from  be- 
ing overwhelmed  by  the  immense  capital  which  would 
have  rushed  into  them  for  investment,  and  from  an  expan- 
sion of  the  currency  which  would  have  nullified  any  protec- 
tion short  of  prohibition.” 

So  Hon.  James  Lloyd,  of  Massachusetts,  said  in  the 
Senate  in  1820: — “I  am  interested  in  manufactures.  I own 
stock  in  one  of  the  cotton-mills  running  in  my  State.  It 
regularly  pays  good  dividends  and  is  likely  to  do  so  con- 
tinually if  the  tariff  is  let  alone.  But  if  you  pass  the  bill, 
hundreds  of  such  factories  will  be  erected,  till  the  market  is 
glutted  with  their  fabrics,  when  prices  must  fall  and  our 
concern  very  possibly  be  broken  down.” 

Of  the  year  i860,  the  end  of  the  free-trade  era,  General 
J^mes  A.  Garfield  said  : — “ I suppose  it  will  be  admitted  on 
all  hands  that  i860  was  a year  of  unusual  business  prosperity 
in  the  United  States.  It  was  at  a time  when  the  bounties  of 


Hon.  William  Bourke  Cochran. 

Born  in  Ireland,  February  28,  1854 ; educated  there  and  in  France ; 
migrated  to  America  at  the  age  of  seventeen  ; taught  in  private  academy ; 
Principal  of  Public  School  in  New  York;  admitted  to  bar,  1876;  elected, 
as  a Democrat,  to  50th  Congress;  a member  of  Commission  to  revise 
Judiciary  Article  of  New  York  Constitution;  elected,  as  a Democrat,  to 
52d  Congress,  for  Tenth  New  York  District,  and  by  a majority  of  over 
6000  votes;  member  of  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means;  a distinguished 
party  leader  and  organizer. 


(94) 


DOCTRINE  OF  FREE-TRADE. 


95 


Providence  were  scattered  with  a liberal  hand  over  the  face 
of  the  Republic ; it  was  at  a time  when  all  classes  of  our 
community  were  well  and  profitably  employed  ; it  was  a 
time  of  peace,  the  apprehension  of  our  great  war  had  not 
yet  seized  the  minds  of  our  people ; great  crops,  north  and 
south — great  general  prosperity — marked  the  era.” 

Hon.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  President  Lincoln’s  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  says  in  his  report: — “Without  any  special  stimulus 
to  growth — depressed  indeed,  during  the  years  1857  and 
1858,  in  common  with  other  public  interests  by  the  general 
embarrassments  of  those  years,  and  with  a powerful  com- 
petition in  the  amazing  growth  of  manufactures  in  Great 
Britain  and  nearly  every  other  nation  in  Europe — the  manu- 
factories of  the  United  States  had  nevertheless  augmented, 
diversified  and  perfected  in  nearly  every  branch  and  uni- 
formly throughout  the  Union.  Domestic  materials,  whether 
animal,  vegetable  or  mineral,  found  ready  sales  at  remunera- 
tive prices  and  were  increased  in  amount  with  the  demand, 
while  commerce  and  internal  trade  were  invigorated  by  the 
distribution  of  both  raw  and  manufactured  products.  Inven- 
tion was  stimulated  and  rewarded.  Labor  and  capital  found 
ample  and  profitable  employment,  and  new  and  unexpected 
fields  were  opened  to  each.  Agriculture  furnished  food  and 
materials  at  moderate  cost,  and  the  skill  of  our  artisans  cheap- 
ened and  multiplied  all  artificial  instruments  of  comfort  and 
happiness  for  the  people.  Even  the  more  purely  agricul- 
tural States  of  the  South  were  rapidly  creating  manufactories 
for  the  improvement  of  their  great  staples  and  their  abundant 
natural  resources.  The  nation  seemed  speedily  approach- 
ing a period  of  complete  independence  in  respect  to  the 
products  of  skilled  labor,  and  national  security  and  happi- 
ness seemed  about  to  be  insured  by  the  harmonious  develop- 
ment of  all  the  great  interests  of  the  people.” 

5 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


The  doctrine  of  protection  starts  without  a doubt  as  to 
nomenclature.  As  a principle,  it  admits  of  no  exception 
in  the  first  chapters  of  the  history  of  every  commercial 
nation. 

The  commercial  nation  never  existed  that  did  not,  at 
first,  protect  itself.  So  astute,  refined  and  far-reaching  has 
commerce  become,  that  no  nation  which  refuses  to  protect 
itself  can  ever  hope  to  test  its  fitness  for  commercial  suprem- 
acy, or  independence,  much  less  obtain  it. 

The  same  is  true  of  industrial  and  manufacturing  inde- 
pendence* both  of  which  imply  commercial  independence, 
the  moment  transit  is  acknowledged  as  a subject  of  pro- 
tection. 

Nature  supplemented  by  art  made  American  transit  supreme, 
or  nearly  so,  when  ships  were  of  wood.  Art  combined  with 
nature  made  English  ships  supreme,  when  ships  came  to  be 
of  iron.  But  nature  is  still  on  our  side  as  to  iron.  Add  the 
art  of  England  to  American  nature,  and  transit  will  have  its 
old  supremacy.  Art  is  protection  and  protection  art. 

A protective  tariff  provides  revenue  for  the  government 
in  a better  way  than  any  other  kind  of  a tariff.  England 
levies  duties  for  revenue  only.  They  fall  on  two  classes  of 
articles ; first,  luxuries ; second,  on  articles  that  cannot  be 
raised  or  produced  profitably  at  home  and  cannot  come  into 
competition  with  home  productions.  It  so  happens  that 
the  latter  class  of  articles  embraces  tea,  coffee  and  many 
things  which  rank  as  necessities  among  the  common  people. 

Protection  omits  duties,  when  not  required  for  simple 
(96) 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


97 


revenue,  from  tea,  sugar,  coffee,  and  articles  which  rank  as 
necessities,  and  which  cannot  be  produced  profitably  at 
home  or  cannot  come  into  competition  with  home  produc- 
tions, and  in  their  stead  levies  discriminating  duties  upon 
articles  that  come  in  direct  competition  with  home  pro- 
ducts. 

The  rate  of  such  duties  is  adjusted,  in  theory,  so  that  the 
foreign  product  cannot  enter  the  home  market  at  a price 
below  what  it  can  be  produced  for  at  home,  with  a fair  profit 
included. 

Some  rates  are  prohibitory,  as  when  there  is  desire  or 
determination  to  found  a new  industry ; but  as  a rule  they 
are  simply  discriminative,  and  in  favor  of  industries  which 
exist,  but  which  would  cease  to  exist  unless  protected. 

Since  labor  constitutes  a large  per  cent,  of  manufactured 
products — in  some  products  as  much  as  ninety  per  cent,  of 
the  cost — the  most  direct  effect  of  protection  is  to  maintain 
the  price  of  that  labor  as  it  enters  into  the  home  product, 
and  preserve  it  from  competition  with  the  cheaper  labor  that 
enters  into  the  same  product  abroad. 

The  effect  of  protection  on  labor  is  direct  and  indirect. 
When  the  price  of  labor  in  protected  industries  is  main- 
tained, that  in  the  unprotected  industries  is  also  maintained. 

The  application  of  protection  to  industries  in  this  country 
reverses  the  doctrine  of  political  economists  that  the  price 
of  an  article  is  increased  to  the  consumer  by  just  the  amount 
of  duty  imposed  upon  it. 

Protection  may  increase  the  price  of  an  article  temporarily, 
and  by  some  per  cent,  of  the  duty  levied,  but  the  price  de- 
clines as  the  home  manufacture  of  the  article  enlarges  and 
home  competition  sets  in. 

Protection  encourages  capital  and  invites  it  into  enter- 


/ 


98 


DOCTRINE  OE  PROTECTION. 


prises  from  which  it  would  shrink,  owing  to  its  natural 
conservatism. 

The  spirit  of  invention  and  the  employment  of  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  and  devices  are  encouraged  by  protection. 

Labor  yields  most  when  aided  by  artificial  appliances  and 
cheered  by  liberal  and  certain  remuneration. 

The  last  three  factors  render  production  exceptional  in 
this  country.  Together  with  the  law  of  competition,  they 
furnish  an  output  of  products  better  in  quality  and  cheaper 
in  price  than  those  of  nations  that  rely  solely  on  cheap  labor 
for  cheap  price.  The  cheapness  of  protection  does  not 
imply  degradation  of  labor,  but  greater  deftness  of  hand, 
quickened  genius,  advantage  of  natural  opportunity. 

The  tariff  is  not  a tax.  While  most  articles,  whose  home 
manufacture  has  been  encouraged  by  a duty  upon  them,  sell 
at  no  higher  price  than  when  imported,  many  such  sell  for 
a less  price  than  the  duty  imposed. 

When  the  foreign  producer  lands  his  goods  here,  and 
finds  them  in  competition  with  home-made  goods,  he  pays 
the  duty. 

Says  a Bradford,  England, manufacturer : “The  least  pos- 
sible reduction  in  the  American  tariff  will  be  a grand  thing 
for  Bradford.  We  are  selling  our  goods  for  the  same  prices 
we  did  before  the  higher  tariff  was  enacted,  and  I know  the 
Bradford  manufacturer  is  paying  the  duty,  not  the  American 
consumer.” 

Another  English  manufacturer  says  : “ If  the  duties  came 
out  of  the  American  consumer  the  English  manufacturer 
would  not  care  a button  about  the  American  tariff  laws.” 

Friedrich  List,  founder  of  the  German  Zollverein , or  Cus- 
tom’s Union,  Adam  Smith  and  John  Stuart  Mill,  all  sub- 
scribe to  the  doctrine  that  a country  which  is  exclusively 
agricultural  is  necessarily  backward.  They  instance  Poland. 


Hon.  William  McKinley,  Jr. 

Bom  at  Niles,  Ohio,  February  26,  1844;  enlisted  in  the  23d  Ohio 
Vols.,  May,  1861 ; mustered  out  as  Brevet-Major,  September,  1865 ; 
studied  law  and  served  as  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  .Stark  co. ; elected  to 
45th,  46th,  47th  and  48th  Congresses;  unseated  in  48th  Congress  by 
Democratic  opponent;  re-elected  to  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses; 
defeated  as  candidate  for  52d  Congress,  owing  to  gerrymander  of  his 
District ; rose  to  renown  as  exponent  of  Protection ; Chairman  of  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  in  51st  Congress,  and  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  be- 
came known  as  the  McKinley  Act ; elected  Governor  of  Ohio,  Novem- 
ber, 1891,  by  21,511  majority,  the  leading  issues  being  Protection  and 
Silver  Coinage. 


(100) 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


IOI 


“ Since,  then,  although  it  is  undoubtedly  bad  for  privileges 
to  give  rise  to  artificial  industries,  many  industries  well 
suited  to  the  nature  of  a country  will  never  develop  there 
unless  at  first  protected.  The  best  road  to  arrive  at  free- 
trade  and  obtain  from  it  the  maximum  advantage  lies  through 
a temporary  adoption  of  protection.” 

Protection  in  this  country  at  first  vindicated  itself  by  the 
example  of  all  civilized  nations.  Then,  by  universal  ac- 
quiescence in  the  principle  that  duties  on  imports  were  more 
cheerfully  paid  than  any  species  of  tax  for  revenue.  Now 
it  vindicates  itself  by  what  it  has  achieved  for  the  country 
in  the  domain  of  capital  and  labor.  It  claims  to  have  won 
by  honest  effort  and  practical  results  the  title,  “American 
System.” 

“ The  safety  and  interest  of  the  people  require  that  they 
should  promote  such  manufactures  as  tend  to  render  them 
independent  of  others  for  essential,  particularly  for  military, 
supplies.” — George  Washington. 

“ That  it  may  be  expedient  to  guard  the  infancy  of  this 
improvement  (‘  useful  manufactures  ’)  by  legislation  of  the 
commercial  tariff,  cannot  fail  to  suggest  itself  to  your  pa- 
triotic reflections.”  Again,  “ In  adjusting  the  duties  on 
imports  to  the  object  of  revenue,  the  influence  of  the  tariff 
on  manufactures  will  necessarily  present  itself  for  considera- 
tion. However  wise  the  theory  may  be  which  leaves  to  the 
sagacity  and  interest  of  individuals  the  application  of  their 
industry  and  resources,  there  are  in  this,  as  in  all  cases,  ex- 
ceptions to  the  rule.” — James  Madison. 

As  to  the  highest  duties  of  the  government,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  in  his  second  annual  message,  said : It  is  “ to  cul- 
tivate peace  and  maintain  commerce  and  navigation  in  all 
their  lawful  enterprises ; to  foster  our  fisheries  as  nurseries 


102 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


of  navigation  for  the  nurture  of  man ; and  to  protect  the 
manufactures  suited  to  our  circumstances.” 

“The  restrictive  legislation  of  1808-15  was,  f°r  the  time 
being,  equivalent  to  extreme  protection.  The  consequent 
rise  of  a considerable  class  of  manufactures,  whose  success 
depended  largely  on  the  continuance  of  protection,  formed 
the  basis  of  a strong  movement  for  more  decided  limitation 
of  foreign  competition.” — Prof.  Taussig. 

Adam  Smith,  the  father  of  free-trade,  admits  that  could 
any  number  of  communities,  producing  what  each  other 
wants,  be  brought  into  commercial  contact,  there  would 
have  been  no  need  of  his  evolving  the  doctrine  of  free- 
trade.  In  this  country  there  are  forty-four,  and  more,  of 
such  communities. 

What  was  a theory  with  Hamilton,  that  protection  tended 
to  lower  the  price  of  protected  articles,  became  a fact  under 
the  operation  of  our  tariff  legislation. 

The  genius  of  a nation  is  at  its  best  when  not  subjected 
to  conditions  foreign  to  it.  To  let  institutions  have  sway 
here  which  are  born  abroad,  and  which  may  be  best  for 
abroad,  would  be  for  us  to  subject  ourselves  to  monarchy. 
It  would  be  just  the  same  if  we  lost  our  commercial  or  in- 
dustrial Americanism  and  became  subject  to  the  codes 
which  demean  labor  by  caste  and  enslave  it  by  hereditary 
custom. 

The  protection  which  monarchical  countries,  without  ex- 
ception, patronized  and  by  which  they  exist  was  never  in 
the  interest  of  labor  as  now  in  this  country. 

The  conditions  which  exist  in  America  are  wholly  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  gave  color  to  free-trade  as  a doc- 
trine with  European  economists.  Had  they  been  situated 
as  we  are,  and  known  what  we  know,  they  would  have  col- 
lated and  deduced  differently.  In  one  hundred  years 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


103 


America  has  established  a set  of  statistical  facts  which  ut- 
terly destroy  the  deductions  based  on  facts  of  an  older 
regime  and  on  conditions  never  dreamed  of.  Protection  in 
the  United  States  is  really  a new  political  economy,  of  far 
more  worth  to  us  than  the  economic  visions  of  one  hundred 
years  ago,  indulged  by  men  who  knew  no  distinction  be- 
tween labor  and  serfdom  and  who  saw  no  hope  for  enter- 
prise outside  of  capital  linked  with  landed  aristocracy  and 
lordly  title. 

Protection  has  long  since  triumphed  over  the  argument 
that  it  was  unconstitutional.  This  argument  is  not  urged 
to-day  except  by  the  very  ignorant  or  very  prejudiced.  But 
the  argument  reappears  in  the  charge  that  protection  fosters 
monopoly.  This  was  Calhoun’s  standing  argument.  He 
saw  that  it  enured  more  to  the  benefit  of  free  paid  labor  than 
of  slave  unpaid  labor,  and  that  it  encouraged  the  manufac- 
turing as  against  the  planting  classes.  The  industries  which 
involved  invention,  skill,  competition,  live  capital  and  paid 
labor  were  the  ones  which  protection  favored.  Those  which 
involved  none  of  these  received  no  benefit  from  protection 
and  did  not  need  it.  His  views  of  monopoly  turned  on  this 
point.  Since  the  downfall  of  slavery  the  heart  has  been 
taken  out  of  the  monopoly  argument,  for  it  has  become  plain 
to  all  that  what  improves  the  condition  of  the  entire  people 
does  not  savor  of  monopoly. 

Protection  protects  against  monopoly.  Before  the  tariff 
of  1824  American  cottons  sold  at  24  cents  a yard.  After 
that  tariff,  they  sold  at  7^  cents  a yard.  New  mills,  im- 
proved machinery  and  increased  competition,  put  a better 
material  in  the  market  at  a third  of  the  price. 

The  monopoly  may  be  foreign.  England  sold  us  steel 
rails,  for  railroads,  at  $150  per  ton.  She  continued  to  do 
this  till  1870,  when  a duty  of  $28  a ton  was  levied.  Under 


104 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


this  protection  we  began  to  build  mills  for  their  manufacture. 
The  price  of  steel  rails  began  to  decline.  They  are  now  sold 
at  a profit  at  from  $33  to  $40  a ton.  English  monopoly  was 
costing  us  five  prices  for  a ton  of  rails. 

Protection  gives  us  competing  power  abroad.  Our  cotton 
textiles  are  recognized  as  the  best  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.  The  same  is  true  of  our  edge-tools  and  agricultural 
implements.  European  manufacturers  imitate  these  Amer- 
ican goods  and  use  American  labels  in  order  to  hold  the 
markets  of  South  America  and  the  Orient.  When  this 
competing  power  is  amplified  by  reciprocity  and  by  direct 
steam  communication,  both  of  which  are  protective,  no  na- 
tion can  rival  us  in  South  American  and  Chinese  markets. 

A tariff  for  revenue  is  a tax.  A tariff  on  tea,  coffee  and 
sugar,  raises  the  price  to  the  consumer,  because  it  offers  no 
inducement,  and  cannot,  by  reason  of  soil  and  climate,  for 
their  home  production.  Sugar  is  partly  an  exception,  as 
we  can  raise  some  sugar-cane.  It  may  become  wholly  an 
exception  if  the  experiment  with  beets  prove  a success.  As 
to  trading  in  manufactured  articles,  articles  of  art  and  handi- 
craft, the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  natural  right  as 
claimed  by  free-traders,  is  suicidal  to  the  younger  or  weaker 
nation.  No  nation  recognizes  it  except  in  theory.  Nations 
are  not  natural,  one  to  the  other,  as  to  trade,  except  in  the 
respect  that  they  are  selfish.  They  all  claim  the  natural 
right  to  exist,  to  grow,  to  develop,  to  be  independent.  The 
natural  right  to  be  what  nature  intends  is  higher  than  any 
other.  Nature  never  intended  that  one  nation  with  numer- 
ous, large,  long  and  swift  streams,  equal  to  billions  of  horse- 
power, should  buy  for  all  time  the  manufactures  of  nations 
with  fewer,  smaller,  shorter  and  duller  streams,  equal  to  only 
millions  of  horse-power,  even  though  the  latter  nations  had, 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


105 


by  reason  of  age,  so  far  turned  their  power  to  account  as  to 
be  able  to  furnish  products  cheaper  than  the  former. 

Nature  never  intended  that  one  nation  with  a riches  of 
coal  and  ores  far  exceeding  that  of  another,  should  perpetu- 
ally buy  the  manufactures  of  that  other,  because  it  had 
delved  in  its  mines  for  ages,  and  could  offer  products  cheaper 
dian  the  first. 

Nature  never  intended  that  a new  nation  with  infinite 
resources  of  climate,  soil,  mine,  genius  and  industry  should 
subordinate  its  traffic  to  nations  of  inferior  resources,  but  with 
the  temporary  advantage  of  age. 

Nature  never  intended  that  nations  that  had  grown  old, 
ripe  and  rich  by  means  of  a protection,  which  was  absolute 
in  comparison  with  any  that  prevails  to-day,  should  claim 
naturalness  for  a trade  established  by  agencies  they  deny 
to  others. 

Nature  never  intended  that  conditions  of  labor  under 
which  a laborer  can  be  an  earner,  saver,  head  of  a family, 
house  owner,  voter  and  public-spirited  citizen,  should  be 
subjugated  to  conditions  of  labor  which  give  caste  to  occupa- 
tion, demean  calling,  yield  bare  subsistence,  crush  manhood, 
stifle  ambition, beget  slavish  routine, reduce  to  tread-mill  task. 

Nature  never  intended  that  the  genius  and  capital  of  one 
nation  with  opportunity  should  forever  obey  the  commands 
of  another,  with  less  opportunity,  but  whose  opportunity  had 
the  advantage  of  age. 

But  nature  did  intend  that  each  nation  should  profit  by  its 
gifts.  If  young  and  undeveloped,  it  should  employ  the  arts 
of  development  that  are  commensurate  with  its  gifts.  If 
weak,  it  should  cultivate  strength.  If  dependent,  it  should 
learn  independence.  The  art  of  doing  this  is  its  own  affair. 
The  art  should  be  rational,  based  on  what  it  knows  of  itself — 
its  people,  geography,  topography,  climate, soil,  ores,  streams, 


io6 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


woods,  facilities  and  resources  in  general.  If,  in  obedience 
to  books  and  theories,  it  is  wrong  in  doing  this,  no  other 
nation  is  so  white  as  to  call  it  black.  The  consensus  of  na- 
tions in  this  respect  is  nature.  The  precise  form  of  protec- 
tion and  development  is  immaterial.  English  free-trade  is 
the  highest,  severest,  most  arbitrary  form  of  protection  of 
which  she  is  capable.  It  is  no  more  condemnatory  of  the 
American  idea  than  was  her  duty  of  #250  on  every  $500 
worth  of  iron,  not  otherwise  enumerated,  she  imported  from 
her  colonies.  It  is  no  more  acceptable  to  the  American 
idea  than  was  her  stamped  paper  and  tea-tax  which  brought 
on  the  Revolution. 

The  highest  duty  of  a nation  is  to  cultivate  nature,  for 
nature  means  its  people,  institutions  and  resources.  In  this 
respect  America  means  far  more  than  professors  dream  of, 
far  more  than  books  teach,  far  more  than  little,  narrow  men 
with  sectional  or  foreign  predilections  prate  of,  far  more  than 
England,  all  Europe,  or  all  the  world  can  in  their  selfishness 
impress  us  with.  As  a nation  we  have  escaped  the  thraldom 
of  monarchies,  the  shackles  of  caste,  the  hindrances  of 
mediaeval  institutions,  the  limitations  of  soil,  climate  and 
natural  resource  incident  to  a continent  which  last  emerged 
from  polar  ice.  As  to  people  we  are  composite.  Where 
and  when  the  mentality  and  physique  of  civilization  blend 
for  the  production  of  a type,  that  type  will  be  what  nature 
calls  for,  the  survival  of  size,  shape  and  qualities,  fitted  for, 
or  rather  shaped  by,  an  environment  such  as  has  not  hitherto 
existed.  As  to  institution,  we  have  inverted  the  pyramid  of 
monarchy  whose  tip  is  on  the  throne  and  base  in  the  air. 
Here  the  base  is  below,  on  the  people,  and  the  tip  is  in  the 
air,  a sublimation  of  popular  will  and  not  a matter  of  family 
or  blood.  As  to  areas  and  climate  we  blend  orient  and 
Occident,  tropic  and  arctic.  It  is  Italy  and  Russia,  London 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


107 


and  Constantinople.  As  to  soil,  mineral,  wood  and  stream, 
the  resource  is  varied  and  infinite.  The  alluvium  between 
the  Alleghenies  and  Rockies  has  no  counterpart  in  the 
world.  Not  Ural,  Alp  or  Apennine  are  richer  in  ores  than 
our  home  ranges.  No  forests  of  Europe  or  Asia  compare  with 
our  pine  fastnesses.  No  streams  run  larger,  fresher,  swifter, 
more  constant  and  frequent.  It  is  the  place  for  new  men, 
genius,  institution,  development.  The  law,  doctrine  or  cus- 
tom, ripened  by  wholly  different  conditions,  and  sanctioned 
by  antiquity,  is  not  for  us.  We  are  a nation — an  escape  from 
antique  environment.  To  be  true  we  must  be  original. 
This  is  especially  so  as  to  economics. 

The  facts  upon  which  Smith  and  Mill  built  free-trade 
theories  are  useless  in  America.  Home  facts,  embracing 
periods  of  test,  are  the  only  true  bases  for  home  deductions. 
It  is  our  right  and  duty  to  build  on  them  and  to  evolve  for 
ourselves  the  political  economy  which  they  warrant,  regard- 
less of  the  conclusions  reached  and  the  laws  adopted  by 
other  nations.  These  facts  and  this  use  of  them  have  evolved 
the  common  law  of  protection  in  this  country,  have  con- 
firmed a principle,  have  established  a system — the  system 
of  American  Protection. 

When  free-trade  makes  the  claim  that  home  competition 
cannot  cheapen  certain  classes  of  home  manufactures,  pro- 
tection answers  that  in  such  cases  cheapness  equal  to  that 
of  a foreign  product  is  undesirable ; that  there  ought  to  be 
sufficient  patriotic  pride  among  us  to  pay  more  for  such 
articles  when  home-made  than  when  foreign-made,  their 
quality  and  utility  being  the  same ; that  we  will  be  more 
than  repaid  for  the  difference  in  price  by  the  encouragement 
extended  to  a home  industry  and  by  the  establishment  of  a 
home  market ; that  every  cent  spent  at  home  is  a contribu- 
tion to  the  comfort  of  surroundings,  the  happiness  of 


io8  DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 

neighbors,  the  erection  of  homes,  the  welfare  of  labor,  the 
founding  of  a home  market  for  the  wool,  wheat,  corn,  butter, 
cheese,  eggs  and  vegetables  of  the  farmers,  for  which  there 
otherwise  could  be  no  possible  demand ; or  if  so,  the  demand 
would  be  of  so  foreign  a nature  as  to  eat  up  profit  by  the 
cost  of  transportation,  by  commissions,  and  by  perishability. 

All  free-traders  make  much  of  the  argument  that  protec- 
tion tends  to  over-production  and  consequently  to  periods 
of  depression  and  panic.  The  protectionists  answer,  first, 
that  this  is  a confession  that  protection  does  stimulate  pro- 
duction. Secondly,  they  deny  in  toto  that  protection  tends 
any  more  to  over-production  and  to  periods  of  depression 
and  panic,  than  free-trade.  England  is  as  much  subject  to 
periodic  visitations  of  glut  and  depression  as  any  protected 
country.  The  glut  and  depression  in  the  iron  trade  of  1884 
extended  to  every  iron-producing  country,  and  England 
suffered  most  of  all. 

In  this  connection  protection  points  confidently  to  its 
history  in  this  country,  and  relies  upon  the  unshakable 
argument  it  furnishes. 

The  absolutely  free-trade  era  between  1783  and  1789  was 
characterized  by  a glut  of  foreign  products,  suspension  of 
industries,  bankruptcy  of  manufacturers  and  merchants, 
ruinous  depreciation  of  prices,  beggary  of  artisans  and 
laborers,  starvation  of  farmers.  Says  a writer  of  the  period  : 
“ We  are  poor  with  a profusion  of  material  wealth  in  our 
possession.  That  we  are  poor  needs  no  other  proof  than 
our  prisons,  bankruptcies,  judgments,  executions,  auctions, 
mortgages,  etc.,  and  the  shameless  quantity  of  business  in 
our  courts  of  law.” 

This  condition  passed  away  with  the  enactment  of  the 
tariff  Act  of  1789.  It  was  a modest  provision,  but  sufficient 
to  enunciate  the  principle  of  protection  for  new  industries, 


Hon.  Shelby  M.  Cullom. 


Born  in  Wayne  co.,  Ky.,  November  22,  1829 ; next  year  parents 
moved  to  Tazewell  co.,  111.;  educated  at  academy  and  university;  ad- 
mitted to  bar  in  Springfield  and  practiced  there  ; elected  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1856,  1860,  1872, 1874;  was  Speaker  in  1861  and  1873;  elected 
a Representative  to  39th,  40th  and  41st  Congresses ; elected  Governor 
of  Illinois  in  1876,  and  re-elected  in  1880;  resigned,  February  5,  1883, 
to  accept  seat  in  United  States  Senate,  as  a Republican,  and  successor 
to  Hon.  David  Davis ; term  expires  March  3,  1895 ; an  active  worker 
and  broad-minded  statesman  ; father  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  law. 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


in 


and  to  change  the  industrial  and  commercial  situation.  By 
1808  the  country  had  recovered  from  the  evil  effects  of  the 
free  trade  era.  Then  set  in  the  restrictive  measures  pre- 
liminary to  the  war  of  1 8 1 2,  as  the  Embargo  Act  of  1 807  and 
the  Non-Intercourse  Act  of  1809.  Duties  were  doubled  by 
the  Act  of  1812  with  a view  to  secure  revenue.  These 
restrictive  measures,  followed  by  actual  hostilities,  proved 
to  be  an  absolutely  prohibitive  tariff.  Immediately  every 
branch  of  domestic  industry  felt  the  stimulus.  Establish- 
ments for  the  manufacture  of  cottons,  woolens,  iron,  glass, 
pottery,  etc.,  sprang  up  like  magic.  This  instant  and  mar- 
vellous result  was  due  to  extreme  protection,  and  it  really 
formed  the  basis  for  that  strong,  persistent  and  intelligent 
movement  which  had  for  its  view  legislative  limitation  on 
foreign  competition,  and  logical  protection,  as  found  in  Henry 
Clay’s  American  System. 

This  view  found  expression  in  the  tariff  act  of  1816,  which 
increased  duties  considerably,  but  most  unfortunately  for 
only  a limited  period.  The  25  per  cent,  on  cottons  and 
woolens  was  to  fall  to  20  per  cent,  by  1819.  What  was 
barely  protective  became  non-protective  in  three  years. 
Limitation  was  to  undo  the  affirmative  work  of  the  act. 
Though  all  that  grew  out  of  the  ground  remained  high  in 
price  for  a time,  owing  to  shortages  in  Europe,  manufactured 
goods  declined.  The  long  pent-up  stream  of  English  mer- 
chandise flooded  the  country  after  the  close  of  the  Napo- 
leonic wars,  and  our  manufacturers  were  forced  to  the  wall. 
Panic  set  in,  and  with  it  depression,  bankruptcy  and  all  the 
evils  of  foreign  inundation.  The  products  of  the  soil  found 
the  level  of  devastation,  and  soon  every  interest  was  en- 
gulfed in  the  sad  wave  of  commercial  blight. 

The  lesson  of  this  crisis  was  not  lost  to  our  statesmen 
and  economists,  That  strong  protective  movement  set  in' 


1 12 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


which  was  to  concern  so  intimately  the  next  generation. 
England  had  grown  restrictive,  as  evidenced  by  the  passage 
of  her  corn  laws.  Cotton  and  all  our  farm  products  were 
ruinously  cheap.  The  time  was  most  favorable  for  the  pro- 
tection and  growth  of  home  manufactures  and  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  home  markets.  Home  markets  had  not  until 
this  date  been  a leading  argument  for  protection,  but  from 
this  time  on  the  argument  grew  in  strength.  The  relief 
tariff  of  i 8 1 8 merely  did  away  with  the  limitations  of  the 
Act  of  1816,  and  extended  the  duties  of  the  latter  act  till 
1826. 

After  1819,  that  is,  in  1820,  the  protectionists  made  a 
vigorous  effort  to  enact  a really  protective  act.  They  failed 
by  a single  vote  in  the  Senate.  They  succeeded  in  1824, 
with  a modifiedly  protective  act,  which  became  more  con- 
firmedly  protective  in  the  act  of  1828.  This  protective 
trend  was  most  advantageous.  Recovery  from  the  effect 
of  the  panic  of  1819  was  perfect.  Manufactures  again 
sprang  up.  Labor  got  employment  and  reward.  The 
farmer  rejoiced  at  his  plow.  Prosperity  and  satisfaction 
reigned.  The  seven  years  after  1824  are  counted  as  the 
most  prosperous  they  had  ever  known. 

Free-trade  now  came  to  mean  the  perpetuation  of  slavery, 
the  nullification  of  law,  secession.  It  threw  itself  on  the 
very  legislation  it  had  encouraged,  and  with  such  ferocity 
as  to  compel  the  compromise  tariff  of  1833,  in  which  the 
principle  of  protection  was  abandoned.  Then  the  history 
of  1819  began  to  repeat  itself.  Depression  set  in.  Values 
fell.  Manufactures  ceased.  Merchants  went  into  bank- 
ruptcy. Farmers  became  impoverished.  Labor  begged  for 
bread.  The  horrors  of  1819  were  more  than  repeated  in  the 
final  crash  of  1837,  when  cows  sold  for  $1.00  a head  and 
hogs  for  25  cents.  The  panic  of  1837  cost  the  country 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION.  113 

$1,000,000,000.  To  add  to  the  terrible  situation,  the  sliding 
scale  of  reduction  of  tariff  rates  brought  duties  so  low  by 
1837  that  the  Government  ran  short  of  revenue,  and  the 
national  credit  fell  so  low  that  money  could  not  be  bor- 
rowed for  necessary  expenses  except  at  enormous  discount. 

The  reaction  caused  by  this  disastrous  epoch  swept  the 
free-traders  from  power  and  the  protectionists  enacted  the 
protective  tariff  of  1842,  over  the  veto  of  President  Tyler. 
Financial  skies  began  to  clear.  The  sun  of  prosperity  broke 
forth.  Spindles  began  to  hum  and  labor  to  smile.  The 
farmer  held  his  plow  with  confidence.  Customs’  revenues 
leaped  to  seventy  per  cent,  more  than  during  the  last  year 
of  the  compromise  Act  of  1833.  Prices  rose,  and  every  in- 
dustry was  inspired  with  new  life. 

But  in  1844  free-trade,  more  wedded  than  ever  to  unpaid 
labor,  and  shivering  at  the  importance  of  paid  labor  and 
protected  industry,  rallied  under  the  banner  of  “ Polk,  Dal- 
las and  the  Tariff  of  ’42.”  How  much  it  believed  in  the 
“ Tariff  of  ’42  ” was  shown  by  the  enactment  of  the  Tariff 
of  1846,  by  the  casting  vote  of  Dallas  in  the  Senate.  This 
was  a free-trade  tariff,  and  its  results  were  foreshadowed  by 
its  opponents.  Happily  there  arose  a series  of  circum- 
stances which  operated  very  much  like  the  restrictive  meas- 
ures that  followed  the  Act  of  1808.  They  were  all  protective 
and  sufficiently  so  to  postpone  the  evil  effects  of  the  Act  of 
1 846  for  a time.  They  were  the  Mexican  war,  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  the  Irish  famine,  and  wars  in  Europe. 
But  even  by  1852  the  decrease  in  the  value  of  our  exports 
of  bread-stuffs  and  provisions  had  fallen  off  $47,000,000,  and 
the  supposed  incentive  of  a low  tariff  and  increased  importa- 
tions from  abroad  was  not  being  realized. 

Another  reduction  of  duties  took  place  in  1857.  Finan- 
cial revolution  set  in,  appalling  in  its  widespread  severity 


714 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


and  distress.  The  crisis  of  1857  not  only  impoverished  the 
people,  but  the  public  revenues  became  so  small  that  the 
Government  was  compelled  to  borrow  money  at  from  8 to 
12  per  cent,  discount  in  order  to  provide  running  expenses. 
Said  President  Buchanan  in  his  annual  message : “ With  un- 
surpassed plenty  in  all  the  elements  of  national  wealth,  our 
manufactures  have  suspended ; our  public  works  are  re- 
tarded ; our  private  enterprises  of  different  kinds  are  aban- 
doned and  thousands  of  useful  laborers  are  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  reduced  to  want.” 

Since  the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Tariff  Act  of  1861,  the 
doctrine  of  protection  has  found  constant  application.  The 
Act  of  1883  effected  the  largest  change  in  that  of  1861,  by 
reducing  duties  and  enlarging  the  free  list,  but  it  was  crude 
in  many  of  its  provisions.  The  Act  of  1890,  known  as  the 
McKinley  Act,  still  further  enlarged  the  free  list,  addressed 
the  principle  of  protection  more  directly  to  American  labor, 
and  introduced  the  policy  of  reciprocity.  Protectionists 
claim  for  this  period,  1861  to  the  present,  the  establishment 
and  enjoyment  of  an  industrial  system  which  has  assumed 
a larger  national  growth,  a more  rapid  accumulation  and 
broader  distribution  of  wealth  than  ever  before  known  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  During  that  period  there  has  been 
but  one  panic,  that  of  1873,  and  that  differed  from  those  of 
1819,  1837,  anc*  1857,  in  not  being  confined  to  this  country, 
but  in  having  an  origin  in  general  disturbance  of  credit 
abroad,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  throw  back  upon  us  sud- 
denly an  inordinate  number  of  our  bonds.  This  caused 
sudden  drain  and  great  hardship  for  a time.  The  condition 
was  almost  repeated  in  1890,  when  the  failure  of  the  Baring 
Brothers,  and  general  disturbance  in  European  credit,  shook 
our  commercial  centres  and  tested  our  ability  to  withstand 
panic.  In  1873  our  mills  did  not  stop  running  as  in  other 


Hon.  John  Dalzell. 


Born  in  New  York  city,  April  19,  1845;  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
1847;  graduated  from  Yale,  1865;  admitted  to  bar,  1867  ; rose  into 
professional  prominence  as  attorney  for  Pennsylvania  R.  R.  and  leased 
branches;  also  as  solicitor  for  corporations  and  firms  in  Allegheny  co. ; 
elected  to  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses  as  a Republican,  by  large 
majorities;  distinguished  for  industry  and  eloquence;  ardent  defender  of 
Protection,  and  opposed  to  Free  Silver  Coinage  ; name  discussed  through- 
out the  State  in  connection  with  the  U.  S.  Senatorship. 

(M5) 


doctrine:  of  protection. 


i*7 

panics.  Banks  did  not  break  by  wholesale.  Internal  com- 
merce was  not  interrupted.  Every  recuperative  agency 
had  play.  We  sold  more  than  we  bought,  and  reduced  our 
national  debt.  Protectionists  aver  that  the  panic  of  1873 
was  a blessing  in  disguise. 

The  eminent  protectionist,  Henry  C.  Carey,  thus  concludes 
his  historic  argument : — 

“ We  have  had  Protection  in  1789,  1812,  1824,  1828,  1842, 
and  from  1861  to  date. 

We  have  had  Free-Trade,  or  very  low  tariff,  in  1783,  1816, 
1832,  1846,  1857. 

Now  note  the  unvarying  results : 


Under  protection  we  have  had  : | 

1.  Great  demand  for  labor. 

2.  Wages  high  and  money  cheap. 

3.  Public  and  private  revenues  large. 

4.  Immigration  great  and  steadily  in- 

creasing. 

5.  Public  and  private  prosperity  great 

beyond  all  previous  precedent. 

6.  Growing  national  independence. 


Under  Free - Trade  we  have  had  : 

1.  Labor  everywhere  seeking  em- 

ployment. 

2.  Wages  low  and  money  high. 

3.  Public  and  private  revenues  small 

and  steadily  decreasing. 

4.  Immigration  declining. 

5.  Public  and  private  bankruptcy 

nearly  universal. 

6.  Growing  national  dependence. 


The  argument  that  protection  injures  the  farmer  has 
always  been  a favorite  one  with  free-traders.  It  has  steadily 
grown  in  favor,  and  has  been  given  a decided  turn  in  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  by  the  attempt  to  remove  the  duty 
from  wool,  binding  twine  and  tin  plate.  The  argument  of 
the  protectionist  is  that  manufactured  articles,  and  especially 
those  which  concern  the  farmer,  are  on  an  average  25  per 
cent,  cheaper  to-day  than  in  i860,  when  80 per  cent,  of  them 
were  made  abroad.  That  now  80  per  cent,  of  them  are  made 
at  home.  That  the  farmer  has  been  saved  the  cost  of  ocean 
transportation  on  this  80  per  cent.,  and  has  had  the  benefit 
of  the  home  market  their  manufacture  has  created  for  his 
6 


Ii8 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


produce.  That  such  market  is  certain,  at  his  door,  and 
already  takes  80  per  cent,  of  his  wheat  and  92  per  cent,  of 
his  corn.  That  it  keeps  even  pace  with  the  growth  of  manu- 
factures and  will  ere  long  take  all  his  surplus,  at  a better 
rate  than  he  can  get  for  it  abroad  and  in  competition  with 
the  cheap  wheat  of  India  and  Australia. 

In  addition  to  the  above  argument,  protectionists  show 
that  our  free  list  now  embraces  nearly  half  of  our  importa- 
tions ; that  said  list  comprises  all  the  articles  which  affect 
the  comfort  of  the  farmer  or  poor  man,  such  as  sugar,  fruit, 
rice,  breeding  animals,  tea,  coffee,  etc. ; and  that  the  dutiable 
list  embraces  high  priced  articles  and  articles  of  luxury, 
such  as  wines,  liquors,  cigars,  silks,  satins,  glassware,  dia- 
monds, linens,  cottons,  etc.,  the  duties  on  which  are  paid 
mostly  by  the  wealthy. 

The  free-trader  argues  that  “ free  raw  material  used  in 
the  manufactures  ” is  especially  worthy  of  a place  on  the 
free  list.  Among  these  he  classes  wool,  flax,  hemp,  seeds, 
iron  ore,  pig  iron,  coal,  marble,  etc.  The  protectionist 
claims  that  the  free-list,  as  enlarged  under  the  Act  of  1890, 
embraces  a sufficient  number  of  these  articles ; that  those, 
like  wool,  which  pay  duty,  come  into  competition  with  the 
products  of  our  farmers  and  laborers  in  shops,  mines  and 
furnaces  ; that  labor  is  a prime  object  of  protection  ; that  all 
the  articles,  technically  classed  as  “ raw  material,”  are  not 
such  to  the  farmer,  laborer,  miner  and  furnace  man,  because 
they  represent  the  labor,  skill  and  even  capital  of  the  latter, 
as  much  as  cloth  represents  the  skill  and  capital  of  the  manu- 
facturer, or  the  coat  those  of  the  tailor. 

Protection  repudiates  the  doctrine  that  it  is  a device  for 
the  benefit  of  the  privileged  classes.  It  rests  on  the  principle 
that  it  operates  for  the  general  development  of  the  resources 
and  the  encouragement  of  the  industries  of  the  country.  If 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


119 

classes  or  capital  are  emboldened  by  it  to  undertake  new 
ventures  or  to  enter  channels  they  would  not  otherwise  do, 
that  is  a matter  which  does  not  affect  the  prime  object  of 
protection  and  cannot  be  controlled  by  legislation.  It  was 
not  England’s  tariff  system,  but  her  free-trade  system,  which 
tended  most  to  sustain  her  landed  aristocracy.  Out  of  the 
ten  richest  men  in  the  United  States,  nine  have  accumulated 
fortunes  in  speculative  and  commercial  pursuits,  other  than 
manufacturing,  and  one  in  manufactures  that  had  to  deal 
with  protected  articles. 

So  as  to  trusts.  Protectionists  say  the  facts  do  not  support 
the  theory  that  protection  leads  to  trusts.  The  worst  trust- 
ridden  countries  are  free-trade  countries.  Trusts  in  America 
are  quite  frequently  the  result  of  English  genius  and  capital. 
The  Standard  oil,  Chicago  gas,  Street  railway,  Electric 
lighting,  Cotton  seed  oil,  Sugar  deal,  Reading  deal,  Rich- 
mond terminal,  and  others,  which  rank  as  trusts  or  combina- 
tions, exist  in  spite  of  the  doctrine  of  protection  and  in  no 
way  concern  it.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  these  com- 
binations are  harmful  to  the  public  at  large.  For  everyone 
that  finds  an  existence  by  reason  of  dealing  in  protected 
articles,  ten  can  be  found  that  would  exist,  tariff  or  no 
tariff 

Protection  has  made  the  manufacturer  content  with  a 
reasonable  profit.  An  annual  profit  of  ten  per  cent,  is 
barely  possible  in  this  country  in  the  best-established  man- 
ufactories. Said  Mr.  Bright  in  the  English  Parliament,  in 
1842:  “America,  as  an  independent  country,  has  been  a 
more  valuable  customer  to  England  than  she  could  possibly 
have  been  as  a colony.  On  all  the  goods  exported  to 
America  during  the  last  quarter  of  a century  you  have 
made  a net  profit  of  forty  per  cent.”  Prices  of  home  man- 
ufactures can  therefore  be  trusted  to  home  competition,  but 


120 


DOCTRINE  OF  PROTECTION. 


foreign  prices  cannot  be  trusted  at  all,  unless  they  are  forced 
to  meet  our  home  competition.  This  was  particularly 
glaring  when  England  was  charging  $150  for  a ton  of  steel 
rails  which  afterwards,  and  in  the  face  of  our  home  compe- 
tition, she  was  glad  to  get  $40  for.  The  removal  of  duty 
from  tea  and  coffee  in  1 872  caused  a rise  in  their  price.  There 
was  a reason  for  the  rise  in  coffee,  because  Brazil  imme- 
diately levied  an  export  tax  on  it.  But  neither  tea  nor  cof- 
fee have  been  so  cheap  since  1872  as  before,  when  tea  paid 
fifteen  cents  and  coffee  two  cents  a pound  duty.  They  avoid 
home  competition  entirely. 

The  protectionist  supports  his  doctrine  by  calling  in  as  a 
witness  the  material  growth  of  the  country  since  1861,  and 
comparing  it  with  that  of  countries  wedded  to  free-trade. 
He  confidently  asks  judgment  on  the  practical  workings  of 
his  policy,  and  claims  for  the  results  a fulfillment  of  the 
prophecies  of  Washington,  Hamilton,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Jackson,  Benton,  Clay,  Webster  and  even  Calhoun,  who  in 
1816  made  his  famous  appeal  in  favor  of  the  protection  and 
importance  of  manufactures  to  the  “ national  strength  and 
perfection  of  our  institutions,”  and  in  “ binding  more  closely 
our  widespread  republic.” 

During  thirty  years  of  protection,  and  notwithstanding 
the  wastage  of  four  years  of  war,  our  population  has  grown 
at  the  rate  of  one  million  annually — a greater  rate  than 
that  of  England,  France,  Germany  and  Austria  combined. 
Our  wealth  has  grown  from  $17,000,000,000  to  nearly  $50, 
000,000,000,  or  at  the  rate  of  $1,000,000,000  a year.  There 
has  gone  into  our  savings  $885,000,000  yearly,  or  almost 
half  as  much  as  the  savings  of  the  entire  world.  The  man- 
ufactories, mines  and  forests  of  Great  Britain  produced  $4,- 
500,000,000  in  1886,  an  increase  of  30  per  cent,  since  1850. 
The  same  products  in  the  United  States  in  j88q  were  valued 


Hon.  Nelson  W.  Aldrich. 


Born  at  Foster,  R.  I.,  November  6,  1841.  Academically  educated; 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits;  President  of  Providence  Common 
Council,  1871-73;  member  of  State  Assembly,  1875-76;  Speaker  of 
House  of  Representatives  in  1876;  elected  to  Congress  for  46th  and 
47th  Congresses;  elected,  as  Republican,  to  United  States  Senate,  1880; 
re-elected,  1886;  rose  to  prominence  as  advocate  of  Protection;  authority 
in  party  and  Senate  on  matters  pertaining  to  Tariff  Legislation  ; con- 
spicuous in  preparation  and  adoption  of  Tariff  act  of  1890;  Chairman 
of  Committee  on  Rules  and  member  of  Committees  on  Finance  and 
Transportation. 


(122) 


f)OcTRiNE  ok  projection. 


at  ^5,500,000,000,  an  increase  of  160  per  cent,  since  i860. 
Since  i860  our  farms  have  more  than  doubled  in  number 
and  increased  in  value  from  $6,000,000,000  to  $10,000,000,- 
000,  while  their  products,  which  were  $ 1 ,800,000, OOG  in 
i860,  were  $3,800,000,000  in  1880. 

In  1880  the  entire  products  of  Great  Britain — farms,  fac- 
tories, mines,  forests  and  all — were  $6,200,000,000,  or  $172 
per  capita.  Of  this  product  she  exported  $1,300,000,000. 
In  the  same  year  the  total  products  of  the  United  States 
were  $10,000,000,000,  or  $200  per  capita.  Of  this  product 
$9,176,000,000  were  consumed  at  home.  Thus  our  home 
market  consumed  more  than  Great  Britain  consumed  and 
exported,  and  more  than  double  the  combined  exports  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  Holland  and  Aus- 
tria. Besides  this  consumption  of  home  products,  we  im- 
ported $700,000,000  as  against  $335,000,000  in  i860,  and 
exported  $750,000,000  as  against  $373,000,000  in  i860. 

Protectionists  do  not  claim  that  the  system  of  protection 
is,  or  ever  has  been,  perfect.  It  is  not  possible  to  make  it 
so.  But  it  has  proved  in  practice  that  the  arguments  of  its 
opponents  are  unsound.  It  has  established  itself  as  an  es- 
sential part  of  our  commercial  and  business  habit  and  thought, 
and  is  open  to  the  same  equities,  and  laws  of  progress  and 
adjustment,  as  any  essential  feature  of  industrial  welfare. 
Its  destruction,  however,  cannot  be  tolerated.  Attack  on 
it  must  be  resented.  It  is  not  a system  which  can  be  trusted 
to  its  enemies  for  safe-keeping,  or  modification.  Its  friends 
are  its  natural  custodians,  and  they  alone  are  capable  of 
perpetuating  it  in  the  forms  best  calculated  to  make  it  repeat 
its  past  triumphs  for  labor,  capital  and  the  general  welfare, 
and  to  fit  it  for  the  legitimate  requirements  of  a still  more 
growthy  and  imposing  future. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION.  — AN  HISTORIC 
REVIEW. 


THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

The  English  colonial  system  in  America  began,  in  1616, 
with  the  Virginia  charter. 

It  extended  until  the  colonies  numbered  thirteen,  em- 
bracing the  Atlantic  front  from  Georgia  to  Maine,  and  ex- 
tending inland  indefinitely. 

Whatever  the  ambition  or  object  of  the  colonists,  they  did 
not  cut  the  apron  string  of  allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  but 
agreed  to  obey  the  decrees  of  her  kings,  the  edicts  of  her 
parliaments  and  the  behests  of  her  institutions. 

This  may  seem  strange,  since  every  colony  was  a protest 
against  home  hardship  and  an  escape  from  tyrannical  inter- 
ference with  individual  rights. 

But  questions  of  title  to  land,  incipient  government,  protec- 
tion against  foes,  and  various  others,  proved  paramount  and 
decided  the  terms  of  colonization. 

As  to  the  mother  country,  those  terms  implied  political 
allegiance  and  commercial  contribution. 

Legitimate  trade  dates  from  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Hol- 
land, England  and  France  vied  with  each  other  in  that 
paternalism  which  went  out  to  the  industries  and  to  com- 
merce in  the  shape  of  protective  legislation. 

From  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to  1846,  there  are  four 
hundred  Acts  of  Parliament — tonnage  laws,  poundage  laws, 
protective  tariff  and  commercial  regulations — relating  to 
manufactures  and  trade. 

Some  of  these  prohibited  imports.  Some  prohibited  ex- 
(124) 


OUR  TARIFF  LfiGISIvATlOK 


1^5 

ports,  lest  inferior  nations  should  acquire  the  skill  of  the 
mother  country.  There  is  no  historic  record  of  a protective 
system  so  extreme  in  its  conditions  and  so  arbitrarily  applied 
as  that  of  Great  Britain,  if  we  exclude  the  despotic  system 
of  China. 

Says  McCullough  in  his  Commercial  Dictionary : — “It 
was  a leading  principle  in  the  colonial  policy,  adopted  as 
well  by  England  as  by  other  European  nations,  to  discourage 
all  attempts  to  manufacture  such  articles  in  the  colonies  as 
could  be  provided  for  them  in  the  mother  country.” 

Says  Bancroft  in  his  “ History  of  the  United  States  ” : — 
“ England  in  its  relation  with  other  states  sought  a con- 
venient tariff.  In  the  colonies  it  prohibited  industry.” 

In  1699  the  British  Parliament  enacted  that  no  wool,  yarn, 
cloth,  or  woollen  manufactures  of  the  English  Plantations  in 
America  should  be  shipped  from  any  of  said  Plantations,  or 
otherwise  laden,  in  order  to  be  transported  thence  to  any 
place  whatsoever,  under  a penalty  of  forfeiting  both  ship  and 
cargo,  and  a fine  of  $2500  for  each  offence. 

In  1732  Parliament  prohibited  the  exportation  of  hats 
from  province  to  province  (colony  to  colony)  in  America, 
and  limited  the  number  of  apprentices  to  be  taken  by 
hatters. 

In  1750  the  Parliament  prohibited  as  a common  nuisance 
the  erection  of  any  mill  in  America  for  slitting  or  rolling 
iron,  or  any  plating  forge  to  work  with  a tilt-hammer,  or 
furnace  for  making  steel.  The  penalty  for  such  crime  was 
$1000. 

A little  later  an  Act  was  passed  prohibiting  the  making 
of  nails  in  the  province  of  Pennsylvania. 

About  the  same  time  Lord  Chatham  announced  it  as  his 
opinion  of  colonial  dependence  that  the  American  colonies 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  make  even  a hob-nail  or  horse- 


126 


OtiR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


shoe  for  themselves,  and  these  views  were  incorporated  into 
the  Act  of  1765  which  absolutely  prohibited  the  migration 
of  artisans  to  the  American  colonies. 

In  1781  the  Parliament  enacted  that  no  woollen  machin- 
ery should  be  exported  to  the  American  colonies. 

In  1782  Parliament  enacted  that  no  cotton  machinery 
should  be  exported  to  the  colonies,  and  that  no  artificers  in 
cotton  should  migrate  thither.  In  the  same  year  the  duty 
on  bar-iron  was  fixed  at  $12  per  ton.  This  rate  lasted  till 
!795- 

In  1785  Parliament  prohibited  the  exportation  of  iron  and 
steel  making  machinery  to  the  colonies,  and  the  migration 
of  workmen,  skilled  in  those  branches  of  trade,  thither. 

In  1797  Parliament  levied  a duty,  then  deemed  prohibitive, 
of  $14  per  ton  on  all  foreign  bar-iron  imported  into  Great 
Britain.  In  1798  this  was  increased  to  $15  per  ton;  in 
1806  to  $23  per  ton;  in  1810  to  $24  per  ton ; in  1818  to 
$28  per  ton;  in  1825  to  $33  per  ton,  if  imported  in  British 
ships,  and  to  $38,  and  over,  per  ton,  if  imported  in  foreign 
ships.  During  the  same  period,  other  manufactures  of  iron 
paid  $90  per  ton,  and  iron  not  otherwise  enumerated  $250 
for  every  $500  worth  imported.  All  of  these  rates  were 
designed  to  be  absolutely  prohibitive,  in  accordance  with 
the  existing  policy  of  the  realm,  which  policy  was  that  of 
France  and  Holland,  both  countries  with  colonial  posses- 
sions, and  both  striving  for  commercial  and  manufacturing 
independence. 

In  1799  the  English  Parliament  prohibited  the  migration 
of  colliers,  lest  other  countries  should  acquire  the  art  of 
mining  coal. 

Says  Adam  Smith,  the  father  of  English  political  economy, 
“ Even  up  to  1776  England  prohibited  the  exportation  from 
one  province  (American)  to  another  by  water,  and  even  the 


I 


Hon.  James  E.  Campbell. 

Born  July  7,  1843 ; elected  to  Congress  from  Hamilton,  Ohio,  district, 
as  a Democrat,  in  1883-85-87 ; the  last  election  was  a test  of  his  great 
popularity,  as  the  district  had  been  apportioned  so  as  to  contain  15' 
opposing  majority;  chosen  as  the  standard  bearer  of  his  party 
Governor  in  1888  against  Foraker,  and  defeated  him  by  a handsome 
majority ; after  a successful  administration  became  candidate  for  Governor 
against  McKinley  in  1891 ; a vigorous  campaign  ensued,  in  which  the 
candidates  united  in  joint  discussion  of  party  issues;  he  suffered  defeat, 
but  lost  none  of  his  strength  and  popularity  ; prominently  mentioned  as  a 
presidential  candidate. 


(128) 


Our  tariff  legislAioM. 


*3* 

Carriage  by  land,  upon  horseback  or  in  cart,  of  hats,  of  wools 
and  woolen  goods,  of  the  produce  of  America,  a regulation 
which  effectually  prevents  the  establishment  of  any  manu- 
facture of  such  commodities  for  distant  sale,  and  confines 
the  industry  of  her  colonists  in  this  way  to  such  coarse  and 
household  manufactures  as  a private  family  commonly 
makes  for  its  own  use,  or  for  that  of  some  of  its  neighbors 
in  the  same  province.” 

The  enactments  cited  are  fair  samples  of  those  which  went 
to  compose  the  English  Colonial  policy.  They  help  to  an 
understanding  of  the  leading  object,  which  was  to  limit 
Colonial  America  to  a farming  community.  America  was 
to  play  the  part  of  India  and  Australia,  as  a cereal  feeder  of 
a little  island  whose  commercial  and  manufacturing  genius 
was  far  in  excess  of  its  ability  to  supply  the  necessaries  of 
life  for  its  working  population. 

Of  course  the  suspicion  could  not  escape  so  inquiring  a 
country,  that  America  might  prove  as  rich  in  raw  materials, 
suited  to  English  manufacture,  as  in  farm  products.  There- 
fore the  English  policy,  when  fully  developed,  made  Amer- 
ica a provider  of  food  and  of  raw  materials  for  England. 
England,  the  main  market,  would  receive  nothing  manufac- 
tured in  the  colonies.  England,  the  supreme  country, 
would  permit  nothing  to  be  manufactured  in  the  colonies. 
England,  the  dominant  commercial  country,  would  permit 
no  trade  with  the  colonies,  except  in  British  bottoms,  and 
of  an  agricultural  surplus,  or  a raw  material,  in  exchange  for 
her  own  manufactured  products. 

This  was  severe  on  the  colonial  agriculturist,  who,  not 
having  a voice  in  the  carrying  trade,  nor  a say  in  what 
should  come  to  him,  could  not  thus  early  raise  an  agricultu- 
ral surplus  sufficient  to  pay  for  what  he  was  compelled  to 
receive  as  an  import.  He  could  not  manufacture,  except  as 


OUR  TARiEE  LEGISLATION. 


to  the  coarse  things  necessary  for  family  use,  and  he  could 
not  have  interchanged  manufactures  between  the  provinces 
by  using  the  natural  waterways  nor  by  means  of  carts. 

The  colonist  paid  nothing  on  his  imports.  They  were 
free.  The  prohibition  was  on  his  exports,  and  especially  if 
in  manufactured  shape.  The  prohibition  was  on  his  domes- 
tic change  of  manufactured  articles.  All  inducement  to 
manufacture  was  taken  away.  A home  market  for  agri- 
cultural products,  or  for  raw  materials,  was  not  to  be  en- 
couraged or  tolerated.  The  plan  was  ingenious  and  most 
successful,  so  far  as  English  manufacturers  and  capitalists 
were  concerned.  In  1771  colonial  imports  exceeded  the 
exports  by  $13, OCX), 000,  and  as  trade  was  more  nearly  barter 
than  now,  it  may  be  said  that  the  colonies  incurred  a debt 
to  England  of  $13,000,000  in  1771,  which  they  had  no  visi- 
ble means  of  paying. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  British  policy  was  effect- 
ing all  its  objects.  Nature  and  opportunity  in  America 
were  entering  their  quiet  protests.  After  the  invention  of 
the  puddling  furnace  and  rolling-mill  by  Henry  Cort,  we 
find  the  English  statutes  most  rigid  against  the  exportation 
of  tools,  utensils  and  artisans  to  foreign  parts,  as  in  1785  and 
1799.  Yet  the  first  rolling-mill  in  America  was  built  and 
started  for  Col.  Isaac  Meason,  at  Plumsock,  Fayette  county, 
Pa.,  by  two  Welshmen,  Thomas  and  George  Lewis,  who 
came  under  the  prohibited  head  of  “ British  skilled  iron- 
workers,” and  as  such  were  compelled  to  smuggle  their  way 
across  the  Atlantic  and  into  the  colony  of  Penn. 

So,  nature  having  provided  excellent  ship  timber  and  the 
colonists  having  a genius  for  ship-building  and  sailing,  they 
quietly  established  a remunerative  trade  with  the  West 
Indies  and  with  many  nations  more  or  less  remote.  This 
was  intolerable  to  the  mother  country.  The  Navigation 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


i33 

Act  was  passed  as  a remedy.  It  provided  that  “ No  goods 
or  commodities  whatever,  the  growth,  production  or  manu- 
facture of  Europe,  Africa  or  America,  shall  be  imported 
into  England  or  Ireland,  or  into  any  of  the  Plantations 
(American  colonies),  except  in  ships  belonging  to  English 
subjects,  of  which  the  master  and  the  greater  number  of  the 
crew  shall  also  be  English.” 

This  and  subsequent  navigation  acts  destroyed  our  West 
India  trade.  Prices  of  goods  imported  and  exported,  and 
their  quantities,  fell  entirely  under  English  jurisdiction.  All 
she  sent  to  us  was  free  of  duty.  All  sent  to  her  was  upon 
her  own  conditions.  Nothing  could  be  sent,  except  in  her 
bottoms,  and  to  the  destination  and  upon  the  terms  she  im- 
posed. As  Burke  said  in  Parliament,  “ By  it  (the  Naviga- 
tion Act)  the  coVnmerce  of  the  colonies  was  not  only  tied, 
but  strangled.” 

Our  Revolutionary  history,  familiar  to  every  schoolboy, 
acquaints  us  with  the  English  method  of  extracting  revenue 
directly  from  her  colonies  by  means  of  such  inventions  as 
the  Stamp  Act,  the  Tea  Tax,  etc.  They  were  but  parts  of 
an  ingenious  and  stupendous  system  of  home  protection 
which  eventuated  in  established  manufactures  and  commerce, 
and  in  a final  declaration  of  independence  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  in  these  respects. 

Just  here,  the  thought  is  foreign  to  neither  the  theme  nor 
time,  it  may  well  be  wondered  why  so  astute  a nation  as 
Great  Britain,  after  two  hundred  years  of  an  attempt  to 
make  a simple  wheat  granary  of  America,  and  after  the 
energies  which  followed  American  independence  fully 
established  the  fact  that  such  a granary  was  within  reach, 
did  not  rather  choose  to  take  advantage  of  it,  than  fly  to 
others  in  India  and  in  the  Islands  of  the  sea,  far  more  remote 
and  far  less  obedient  to  the  comities  of  trade.  Did  she 


j 


6u£  fAklPP  LEGiStATl6N. 


*54 

scent  the  possibilities  of  American  development  and  the  rise 
of  a home  market,  which  would  absorb  the  annual  agri- 
cultural product,  or  at  least  create  a demand  from  which  her 
capital  would  shrink  ? 

A FIRST  EXPERIMENT. 

After  the  treaty  of  1783  which  closed  the  Revolutionary 
war  and  established  American  Independence,  up  until  1789, 
the  date  of  the  first  American  Tariff  Act,  the  ports  of  this 
country  were  open  to  the  goods  of  all  nations.  Most  of  this 
time  (to  1787)  was  the  era  of  the  Confederacy.  This  period 
was  one  during  which  the  States  were  held  together  by  very 
weak  ties,  by  “ a rope  of  sand  ” as  one  historian  has  it. 
They  had  conceded  little  in  their  “ Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion,” and  had  withheld  entirely  from  the  central  government 
the  right  to  regulate  their  commerce.  Each  State  strove  to 
secure  trade  for  itself,  and  each  imposed  restrictions  on 
foreign  commerce  as  it  saw  fit,  or  left  them  unimposed. 
The  consequence  was  that  there  was  no  concert  of  action. 
The  condition  which  arose  was  worse  than  a free-trade  con- 
dition, for  one  State  was  sure  to  nullify  the  commercial 
enactments  of  another,  through  jealousy  or  some  other 
motive. 

When  Pennsylvania  imposed  a slight  tariff  on  certain 
classes  of  imports,  New  Jersey  opened  a free  port  at  Bur- 
lington and  flooded  the  city  of  Penn  with  smuggled  goods. 
When  New  Jersey  voted  to  impose  a general  tariff  New 
York  refused,  and  in  revenge  the  free  port  of  Paulus  Hook 
began  to  supply  New  York  with  non-dutiable  imports. 

Thus  the  States  were  a prey  to  one  another.  The  states- 
men of  the  day  saw  how  suicidal  the  policy,  or  rather,  the 
lack  of  policy,  was,  and  there  was  no  one  source  of  weak- 
ness that  seemed  so  fatal,  nor  the  lack  of  any  vital  principle 


Hon.  Joseph  N.  Dolph. 


Born  in  Watkins  co.,  New  York,  October  19,  1835;  educated  at 
•lenesee  Weslyan  Seminary;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar  at  Bing- 
hamton in  1861;  enlisted  in  the  “ Oregon  Escort,”  1862;  same  year 
settled  in  Portland,  Oregon  ; City  Attorney  of  Portland  and  U.  S.  Dis- 
trict Attorney  of  Oregon,  1864;  elected  to  State  Senate,  1866-68-72-74; 
conducted  a large  law  business;  engaged  in  various  business  enterprises; 
elected  to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a Republican,  March  3,  1883;  re-elected 
January,  1889 ; served  with  distinction  on  Committees  of  Claims,  Public 
Lands,  Commerce,  Foreign  Relations,  Coast  Defences;  an  earnest,  elo- 
quent, ripened  statesman,  respected  by  the  Senate  and  honored  in  his 
State. 


('3  5) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


137 


that  impelled  so  powerfully  toward  a more  perfect  constitu- 
tion than  this  commercial  discord.  Not  even  the  flat  refusal 
of  New  Jersey  to  comply  with  an  Act  of  the  Congress,  nor 
the  open  offence  of  Massachusetts  in  raising  troops  to  crush 
Shay’s  rebellion,  affected  the  public  mind  so  forcibly  and 
paved  the  way  so  directly  toward  a stronger  central  union, 
as  the  quarrel  between  Virginia  and  Maryland  as  to  com- 
mercial rights  on  the  Chesapeake  and  Potomac.  This  last 
brought  the  Annapolis  convention  in  1786.  Hamilton, 
Madison  and  Dickinson  were  there,  and  they  saw  no  way 
of  preventing  the  subordination  of  the  States  to  foreign  in- 
fluence and  their  extinction  as  sovereign  bodies,  except  by 
creating  a stronger  central  government  and  endowing  it  with 
powers  sufficient  for  the  settlement  of  all  such  discords. 

It  seemed  to  require  some  such  mighty  exigency*  to 
move  the  States  to  their  second  independence.  There  was 
nothing  so  supreme  as  the  thought  that  colonial  independ- 
ence meant  escape  from  a discriminative  and  ruinous  com- 
mercial policy  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  Search  the 
colonial  debates  through,  and  there  is  not  one  of  moment 
that  does  not  inveigh  against  the  efforts  of  England  to  en- 
rich herself  at  the  expense  of  other  nations,  and  to  complete 
her  commercial  and  industrial  supremacy  by  overriding 
their  protective  systems  and  sapping  their  powers  for  com- 
petitive and  independent  existence.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  submits  it  to  “ a candid  world  ” that  Great 
Britain  meant  to  establish  “ an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
States  ” by  “ cutting  off  our  trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world,” 
and  that  among  the  foremost  rights  of  a free  people  is  the 
right  to  “ establish  commerce.” 

Says  a learned  historian : “ The  most  fatal  defect  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  was  absence  of  power  to  collect 
revenue,  regulate  trade,  encourage  industry.  The  thoughts 


138 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


of  all  our  early  statesmen  were  turned  to  this  defect,  which 
to  them  was  the  more  glaring,  because  of  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  British  system.  So  paramount  was  the 
necessity  for  escape  from  industrial  and  commercial  de- 
pendence, and  so  momentous  was  deemed  the  power  to  pro- 
tect ourselves  that  Washington  confidently  looked  to  the 
trade  regulations  of  a more  efficient  government  as  a means 
of  giving  the  country  its  proper  weight  in  the  scale  of  em- 
pires and,  with  a feeling  foreign  to  his  better  nature,  he 
declared  that  such  government  “ will  surely  impose  retaliat- 
ing restrictions,  to  a certain  degree,  upon  the  trade  of 
England.” 

The  proceedings  of  the  Continental  Congress  abound  in 
debates,  resolutions  and  committees,  having  for  their  object 
the  promotion  of  home  products  and  the  development  of 
home  resources.  There  seemed  to  be  no  question  among 
the  leaders  of  thought,  so  far  as  the  debates  show,  of  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  government  to  foster  industry  by 
legislative  enactment,  nor  of  the  necessity  for  a new  govern- 
ment endowed  with  ample  power  to  provide  revenue  through 
a tariff  and  at  the  same  time  protect  its  vital  interests. 

But  while  this  was  all  so  in  the  minds  of  statesmen,  the 
inchoate  States  were  afloat  on  the  sea  of  discord.  They  had 
industry,  commerce,  tariffs,  in  their  own  hands.  There  was 
no  uniform  import  law,  and  consequently  none  at  all.  One 
State  nullified  the  laws  of  another.  They  were,  as  Hamilton 
said,  “jarring,  jealous  and  perverse,  fluctuating  and  unhappy 
at  home,  and  weak  by  their  dissensions  in  the  eyes  of  other 
nations.” 

A prey  to  one  another,  they  were  the  natural  victims  of 
more  knowing,  designing,  older,  richer  and  advanced  nations, 
and  especially  that  one  which  sought  to  revenge  defeat  of 
arms  by  political  segregation  and  commercial  conquest, 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


139 


With  intelligence  and  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  arrayed 
against  free  traffic  with  foreign  nations,  there  existed  the 
hard  compulsion  of  circumstances  to  render  the  States  help- 
less. Depleted  by  a long  war,  with  few  factories,  mills  and 
workshops,  with  limited  means  of  recuperation,  with  thirteen 
hostile  systems  of  commercial  independence,  they  were  at 
the  entire  mercy  of  the  foreign  merchant  and  manufacturer. 
There  was  absolutely  no  law  against  importations.  The  era 
was  one  of  free-trade,  uninterrupted  by  effective  statute, 
unimpaired  by  anything  except  ineffective  sentiment. 

The  consequences  must  be  faced.  Says  Carey  : — “ At  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  the  trade  of  America  was  free  and 
unrestrained  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term,  according  to 
the  theory  of  Adam  Smith,  Say,  Ricardo,  the  ‘ Edinburgh 
Reviewers  ’ and  the  authors  of  the  ‘ Encyclopaedia.’  Her 
ports  were  open,  with  scarcely  any  duties,  to  the  vessels 
and  merchandise  of  other  nations.”  What  befell  ? As  the 
States  were  discordant,  foreign  powers  passed  laws  as  they 
pleased  to  destroy  our  commerce.  Nearly  every  foreign 
nation  shipped  goods  into  the  country  and  dumped  them 
promiscuously  on  our  wharves.  The  consequences  followed 
which  never  fail  to  follow  such  a state  of  things.  Competi- 
tion on  the  part  of  our  manufacturers  was  at  an  end.  They 
were  bankrupted  and  beggared.  The  merchants  whose 
importations  had  ruined  them  were  involved  in  calamity. 
Farmers,  who  had  longed  to  buy  foreign  merchandise  cheap, 
went  down  in  the  vortex  of  general  destruction. 

Said  a statesman  of  the  day,  “ The  people  of-  America 
went  to  war  to  improve  their  condition  and  throw  off  the 
burdens  which  the  colonial  system  laid  on  their  industry. 
And  when  their  independence  was  attained  they  found  it 
was  a piece  of  parchment.  The  arm  which  had  struck  for 
it  in  the  field  was  palsied  in  the  workshop.  The  industry 


140 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


which  had  been  burdened  in  the  colonies  was  crushed  in  the 
free  States.  At  the  close  of  the  revolution  the  mechanics 
and  manufacturers  of  the  country  found  themselves,  in  the 
bitterness  of  their  hearts,  independent — and  ruined .” 

Says  Bancroft,  of  the  year  1785,  “ It  is  certain  that  the 
English  have  the  trade  of  these  States  almost  wholly  in 
their  hands,  whereby  their  influence  must  increase ; and  a 
constantly  increasing  scarcity  of  money  begins  to  be  felt, 
since  no  ship  sails  to  England  without  large  sums  of  money 
aboard,  especially  the  English  packet  boats,  which  monthly 
take  with  them  between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterl- 
ing. The  scarcity  of  money  makes  the  produce  of  the  country 
cheap,  to  the  disappointment  of  farmers  and  the  discourage- 
ment of  husbandry.  Thus  the  two  classes,  the  farmer  and 
the  merchant,  that  divide  nearly  all  America,  are  discon- 
tented and  distressed.” 

Said  Webster  of  this  period,  in  a speech  delivered  in  1833, 
“ From  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  there  came  a 
period  of  depression  and  distress  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  such 
as  the  people  had  hardly  felt  during  the  crisis  of  the  war 
itself.  Ship-owners,  ship-builders,  mechanics,  artisans,  all 
were  destitute  of  employment  and  some  of  them  destitute 
of  bread.  British  ships  came  freely,  and  British  ships  came 
plentifully ; while  to  American  ships  and  American  prod- 
ucts there  was  neither  protection  on  the  one  side  nor  the 
equivalent  of  reciprocal  free-trade  on  the  other.  The 
cheaper  labor  of  England  supplied  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Atlantic  %shores  with  everything.  Ready-made  clothes, 
among  the  rest,  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  soles  of 
the  feet,  were  for  sale  in  every  city.  All  these  things  came 
free  from  any  general  system  of  imposts.  Some  of  the 
States  attempted  to  establish  their  own  partial  systems,  but 
they  failed,” 


Hon.  Fred.  T.  Dubois. 


Born  in  Crawford  co.,  111.,  May  29,  1851;  graduated  at  Yale,  1872; 
Secretary  of  Board  of  Railway  and  Warehouse  Commissioners  of  Illi- 
nois, 1875-76 ; moved  to  Idaho  and  entered  business,  1880 ; United 
States  Marshal  of  Idaho,  1882-86 ; elected  Delegate  to  50th  and  51st 
Congresses;  elected,  as  Republican,  to  United  States  Senate,  December 
18,  1890;  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  Senate;  member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Manufactures,  Enrolled  Bills,  Immigration,  Irrigation,  Or- 
ganization and  Expenditures  of  Executive  Department. 

(142) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


143 


There  is  no  history  of  America  covering  this  time  but 
what  repeats  the  above  views,  over  and  over  again,  and  if 
anything,  in  still  more  lugubrious  terms. 

The  situation  simply  affirmed  what  Lord  Goderich  said 
in  Parliament : — “ Other  nations  know  that  what  we  English 
mean  by  free-trade  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than,  by  means 
of  the  great  advantages  we  enjoy,  to  get  the  monopoly  of 
all  the  markets  of  other  nations  for  our  manufactures,  and 
to  prevent  them,  one  and  all,  from  ever  becoming  manufac- 
turing nations.” 

With  equal  sincerity  and  emphasis  David  Syme,  another 
member  of  Parliament,  declared  : — “ In  any  quarter  of  the 
globe  where  competition  shows  itself  as  likely  to  interfere 
with  English  monopoly,  immediately  the  capital  of  her 
manufacturers  is  massed  in  that  particular  quarter,  and 
goods  are  exported  there  in  large  quantities,  and  sold  at 
such  prices  that  outside  competition  is  immediately  counted 
out.  English  manufacturers  have  been  known  to  export 
goods  to  a distant  market  and  sell  them  under  cost  for  years 
with  a view  of  getting  the  market  into  their  own  hands 
again,  and  keep  that  foreign  market,  and  step  in  for  the 
whole  when  prices  revive.” 

END  OF  THE  FREE-TRADE  ERA. 

It  became  manifest  to  even  the  dullest  mind  that  America 
was  about  to  lose  her  political  independence  in  the  mire  of 
industrial  and  commercial  subserviency.  Says  Mason  : — 

“ Depreciation  seized  upon  every  species  of  property. 
Legal  pressure  to  enforce  payment  of  debts  caused  alarming 
sacrifices  of  both  personal  and  real-estate ; spread  distress  far 
and  wide  among  the  masses  of  the  people ; aroused  in  the 
hearts  of  the  sufferers  the  bitterest  feelings  against  lawyers, 
the  courts  and  tl]e  whole  greditor  class  • led  to  a popular 

7 


144 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


clamor  for  stay-laws  and  various  other  radical  measures  of 
supposed  relief,  and  finally  filled  the  whole  land  with  excite- 
ment, apprehension  and  sense  of  weakness  and  a tendency 
to  despair  of  the  Republic.  Inability  to  pay  even  necessary 
taxes  became  general,  and  often  these  could  be  collected 
only  by  levy  and  sale  of  the  homestead.” 

Figures  began  to  pile  up  and  to  tell  their  awful  tale.  In 
1784-85,  imports  from  Great  Britain  alone  swelled  to 
$30,000,000,  while  our  exports  reached  barely  $9,000,000. 
In  Hildreth’s  history  we  read  : “ The  large  importation  of 

foreign  goods,  subject  to  little  or  no  duty,  and  sold  at  peace 
prices,  was  proving  ruinous  to  all  those  domestic  manufac- 
tures and  mechanical  employments  which  the  non-consump- 
tion agreements  and  the  war  had  created  and  fostered. 
Immediately  after  the  peace,  the  country  had  been  flooded 
with  imported  goods,  and  debts  had  been  unwarily  con- 
tracted, for  which  there  was  no  means  to  pay.” 

In  Maine  a Convention  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  revolt- 
ing from  Massachusetts  on  account  of  the  prevailing  distress. 
In  New  Hampshire  the  people  surrounded  the  Legislative 
hall  and  declared  the  body  should  not  adjourn  till  it  passed 
a measure  to  absolve  the  people  from  debt.  Shay’s  rebellion 
in  Massachusetts  was  but  a protest  against  suffering  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  In  speaking  of  its  causes  Hildreth  says  : 
— “The  want  of  a certain  and  remunerative  market  for  the 
produce  of  the  farmer,  and  the  depression  of  domestic  manu- 
factures by  competition  from  abroad.” 

In  Connecticut  alone  five  hundred  farms  were  offered  for 
sale  to  pay  taxes.  The  condition  was  the  same  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  Carolinas.  Real  estate  found  no  market. 
Debtors  were  compelled  to  close  out  at  one-fourth  the  value 
of  their  lands.  Men  distrusted  one  another  The  best 
securities  were  offered  at  half  their  face  value. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


145 


At  length  the  newspapers  of  the  period,  without  regard  to 
party,  began  to  clamor  for  change.  Pamphleteers  arose  with- 
out number,  and  joined  in  the  cry  of  necessity  for  a change. 
Merchants,  business  men,  farmers,  artisans,  laborers  echoed 
the  universal  sentiment: — “We  have  had  enough  of  free- 
trade.  It  has  but  one  meaning  for  America,  and  that  is 
utter  neglect  of  ourselves  and  the  forced  sale  of  our  ener- 
gies, opportunities  and  resources  to  the  older  and  better 
equipped  nations.  We  have  won  political  independence  at 
a cost  of  seven  years  of  war,  we  have  yet  to  win  the  still 
longer  battle  for  industrial  and  commercial  independence, 
or  else  the  victory  of  foreign  nations  over  us  will  be  greater 
than  our  recent  victory  over  them.” 

Every  one  saw  what  was  patent  to  John  Stuart  Mill,  and 
what  he  incorporated  into  his  “ Principles  of  Political  Econ- 
omy,” that : “ What  prevented  the  rapid  recuperation  of  the 
United  States,  after  the  peace  of  1783,  was  the  system  of 
free  foreign  trade,  allowed  to  add  its  devastations  upon  in- 
dustry to  those  of  the  Revolution.” 

Educated  by  a dreadful  experience,  it  became  the  convic- 
tion of  all  parties  that  the  power  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial protection,  so  conspicuously  and  fatally  absent  in  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  must  repose  somewhere.  No 
other  thought  impelled  more  powerfully  toward  a Union  of 
States  under  a Federal  Constitution.  “ Four  causes,”  says 
Bancroft,  “ above  others,  exercised  a steady  and  commanding 
influence.  The  New  Republic,  as  one  nation,  must  have 
power  to  regulate  its  foreigh  commerce  ; to  colonize  its  large 
domain  ; to  provide  an  adequate  revenue  ; to  establish  justice 
in  domestic  trade  by  prohibiting  the  separate  States  from 
impairing  the  obligation  of  cqntracts.” 

From  this  time  on  till  the  Constitution  became  a fact, 
September  17,  1787,  or  rather,  until  the  Government  became 


146 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


a fact,  April  30,  1789,  a unanimous  political  and  business 
sentiment  persistently  and  eloquently  urged  a stronger 
government,  imbued  with  the  paternal  instinct,  able  and  will- 
ing to  defend  and  encourage  home  industries  and  interests. 
State  responded  to  State  in  this  behalf;  statesmen  echoed 
the  complaints  and  arguments  of  statesmen.  Every  politi- 
cal school  joined  in  the  pleas  for  industrial  and  commercial 
independence.  One  of  the  most  assuring  phases  of  the 
situation  was  the  entire  unanimity  of  artificers,  mechanics 
and  working  men,  who  gathered  in  large  assemblies,  and  by 
means  of  public  speeches,  whose  logic  was  even  more  forci- 
ble than  those  of  learned  statesmen,  and  by  printed  resolu- 
tions of  great  vigor  and  aptness,  demanded  exemption  from 
the  degrading  and  ruinous  competition  forced  upon  them  by 
the  free  and  inordinate  influx  of  foreign  goods,  upon  whose 
manufacture  they  depended  for  a living. 

Under  these  auspices  the  New  Constitution  took  shape, 
and  Clause  1 of  Section  VIII.  provided  that  “Congress 
shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts 
and  excises,  and  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the 
common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States.” 

In  order  to  achieve  what  was  equally  important  in  an  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  sense,  viz.,  perfect  interchange  of 
goods  and  products  between  the  States  themselves,  or  in 
other  words  “ free-trade  ” between  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Union,  it  was  ordained  that  Congress  should  never  have  the 
power  to  levy  “ a tax  or  duty  on  articles  exported  from  any 
State.” 

Thus  endowed,  the  New  Government  started  on  its  career. 
The  writers  of  the  Federalist,  Hamilton,  Madison  and  others, 
saw  in  the  above  clauses  sufficient  power  to  remedy  the 
evils  complained  of,  and  they  eloquently  assured  their  couu- 


Hon.  James  Z.  George. 

Born  in  Monroe  co.,  Ga.,  October  20,  1826;  moved  to  Mississippi 
when  young ; participated  in  Mexican  war ; studied  law  and  admitted 
to  practice  in  Carroll  co. ; elected  Reporter  of  Appellate  Court,  1854 
and  1860;  reported  ten  volumes  of  reports  and  published  a digest  of 
decisions ; member  of  Secession  Convention,  1861 ; Brigadier-General 
in  Confederate  army;  Chairman  of  Democratic  State  Executive  Com- 
mittee, 1875-76;  appointed  a Judge  of  State  Supreme  Court,  1879 ; 
elected  Chief-Justice ; elected  to  United  States  Senate,  1881 ; re-elected 
1886  and  1892 ; member  ef  the  Mississippi  Constitutional  Convention, 
1890;  member  of  Committees  on  Agriculture,  Education  and  Labor, 
Judiciary,  Transportation,  etc. 


(148) 


Our  tariff  legislation. 


149 


trymen  that  the  protection  they  demanded  for  their  infant  in- 
dustries could  now  be  given  beyond  doubt. 

Says  Bishop  : “ That  the  productive  classes  regarded  the 
Constitution  of  1787  as  conferring  the  power  and  right  of 
protection  to  the  infant  manufactures  of  the  country  is  mani- 
fest from  the  jubilant  feeling  excited  in  various  quarters 
upon  the  public  ratification  of  that  instrument.” 

THE  FIRST  TARIFF  ACT. 

The  first  petition  presented  to  the  First  Congress,  in 
March,  1789,  came  from  700  mechanics  and  tradesmen  of 
Baltimore.  It  lamented  the  decline  of  manufactures  since 
the  Revolution,  and  prayed  that  the  efficient  Government 
with  which  they  were,  for  the  first  time,  blessed,  would 
render  the  country  “ independent  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  ” 
by  early  attention  to  the  encouragement  and  protection  of 
American  manufactures  and  by  imposing  on  “ all  foreign 
articles  which  could  not  be  made  in  America  such  duties  as 
would  give  a decided  preference  to  their  labors.” 

Leagues  of  artisans  and  tradesmen,  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers were  formed  in  all  the  leading  cities  and  industrial 
centres,  for  the  purpose  of  urging  on  Congress  an  early  in- 
terpretation of  the  new  powers  conferred  by  the  Constitu- 
tion in  the  interest  of  industry  and  commerce.  Charleston 
shipwrights  followed  the  Baltimore  artisans  with  a powerful 
petition  to  the  First  Congress.  Similar  petitions  came  in 
from  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

As  already  stated,  the  universal  sentiment  of  the  hour 
was  that  the  Constitution  gave  Congress  ample  power  to 
regulate  commerce  by  a tariff  for  revenue,  for  protection  or 
for  prohibition,  as  the  case  might  be.  The  words  “ for  the 
regulation  of  commerce”  had  a well-understood  meaning 
among  American  statesmen.  They  were  the  words  used  in 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


English  enactments  when  like  objects  were  in  view  and 
when  like  powers  were  conferred,  and  they  had  been  in- 
terpreted so  often  both  on  the  bench  and  in  actual  practice 
that  rational  dissent  to  their  meaning  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Hamilton,  Franklin,  Madison,  Jefferson,  Monroe,  ac- 
corded perfectly  as  to  the  nature  of  the  power  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  clause.  Gallatin  said  that  on  his  entrance  into 
public  life  he  found  but  one  sentiment  respecting  the  clause 
among  statesmen.  There  was  then  no  such  objection  as 
afterwards  arose,  and  still  exists,  and  which  is  to  the  effect 
that  a power  to  raise  revenue  by  a tariff  does  not  carry  the 
power  to  protect  home  manufactures  and  industries. 

Said  Washington  in  his  first  annual  message,  “ The  safety 
and  interest  of  a free  people  require  that  they  promote  such 
manufactures  as  tend  to  render  them  independent  of  others 
for  essentials,  particularly  military  supplies.” 

The  question  of  a tariff  was  thus  injected  into  the  First 
Congress,  and  became  the  first  theme  for  discussion.  It  was 
a Congress  which  embraced  many  farmers,  merchants  and 
manufacturers,  an  industrial  rather  than  professional  Con- 
gress, though,  of  course,  containing  many  illustrious  lawyers 
and  statesmen.  That  first  great  question  thrust  upon  it  has 
survived  all  others,  and  is  as  momentous  to-day  as  ever. 
The  other  class  of  questions  which  drew  fiercer,  but  not 
more  learned,  discussion,  such  as  nullification,  the  national 
bank,  slavery,  secession,  reconstruction,  has  happily  found  a 
grave. 

After  the  passage  of  a bill  regulating  the  oath  of  office, 
the  Congress  took  up  the  tariff  bill,  and  it  became  the  first 
general  Act  of  the  First  Congress.  Its  preamble  fore- 
shadowed its  purport : “ Whereas,  it  is  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  Government,  for  the  discharge  of  the  debt 
of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  encouragement  and  pro- 


our  Tariff  legislation. 


151 


tection  of  manufactures,  that  duties  be  laid  on  imported 
goods,  therefore  be  it  enacted,”  etc. 

This  preamble  drew  no  dissent.  Statesmen  North  and 
South  gave  it  sanction.  The  bill  itself  drew  the  widest 
range  of  debate,  and  the  learning  brought  into  the  discus- 
sion of  its  merits  has  never  been  surpassed  in  considering 
the  same  subject,  though  of  course  facts,  statistics  and  ex- 
perience have  changed  the  lines  of  argument,  and  remodelled 
theories.  This  learning  not  only  bore  on  all  the  economic 
phases  of  the  question,  as  then  understood,  but  it  was  ex- 
haustive of  the  principle  that  the  Constitution  designed  to 
secure  to  the  infant  manufactures  and  struggling  industries 
of  the  country  the  protection  they  needed  against  the  riper 
experience  and  cheaper  labor  of  Europe. 

The  debates  upon  this  bill  were  not  as  to  the  necessity 
for  protection,  nor  as  to  the  fact  that  the  legislation  pro- 
posed was  or  was  not  in  principle  the  best  for  the  purpose. 
They  were  rather  upon  the  question  of  general  method  of 
procedure,  and  as  to  whether  or  not  the  States  might  be 
robbed  of  some  of  their  reserved  rights  if  too  liberal  a con- 
struction were  thus  early  put  upon  the  Constitution.  The 
question  of  what  rate  of  duty  would  raise  the  required 
revenue  and  what  would  insure  the  needed  protection  was 
also  a novel  one  and  the  subject  of  animated  discussion,  as 
it  broke  entirely  new  ground,  and  was  beyond  the  range  of 
all  precedents  and  experience.  Among  the  leading  debaters 
were  James  Madison,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Charles  Carroll, 
Rufus  King,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Fisher  Ames,  Roger  Sher- 
man, James  Trumbull,  and  others,  and  these  all  impressed 
their  genius  and  wisdom  on  the  First  American  Tariff  Act. 

The  Act  became  a law  by  the  signature  of  Washington, 
affixed  July  4,  1789.  The  rates  of  duty  provided  by  the 
Act  were,  in  modern  acceptation,  ridiculously  low,  yet  as 


OUR  Tariff  legislation. 


152 

the  legislation  was  entirely  experimental,  and  as  there  were 
no  precedents  to  steer  by,  there  was  general  acquiescence  in 
the  provisions,  not  only  as  insuring  revenue  but  as  estab- 
lishing protection.  The  class  of  articles  subjected  to  duty 
is  the  best  guide  to  the  spirit  of  the  Act.  It  imposed  the 
highest  duties  on  those  manufactures  and  industries  which 
were  deemed  most  in  need  and  most  worthy  of  encourage- 
ment. They  embraced  the  iron  and  steel  of  Pennsylvania ; 
the  glass  of  Maryland ; the  cotton,  indigo  and  tobacco  of 
the  Southern  States ; the  wool,  leather,  paper  and  fisheries 
of  the  Eastern  States.  There  was  hardly  an  article  intro- 
duced into  it  whose  freedom  from  foreign  competition  had 
not  been  petitioned  for,  and  the  desirability  of  whose  home 
growth  or  manufacture  had  not  been  made  clear  to  the 
majority  in  Congress. 

A powerful  spur  to  the  passage  of  this  Act  had  been  the 
oft-repeated  boast  of  Great  Britain  that  while  America  had 
achieved  political  independence,  it  had  been  reconquered 
commercially,  and  was  a more  abject  and  useful  appendage 
than  before.  It  was  therefore  quite  natural  that  the  friends 
of  the  Act,  and  those  who  hoped  most  from  its  provisions, 
should  regard  it  as  in  the  nature  of  a second  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  as  far  more  valuable  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  people  for  the  spirit  it  evinced  and  the  possi- 
bilities it  contained,  than  for  the  rates  of  duty  it  established. 

This  Act  was  followed  the  next  year,  1790,  by  Hamilton’s 
lengthy  and  able  report  upon  “ Commerce  and  Manufac- 
tures.” This  report  was  designed  to  emphasize  the  prin- 
ciple of  protective  legislation.  It  embraced  all  the  learning 
and  experience  of  the  older  nations  bearing  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  it  served  the  purpose  of  reconciling  an  almost 
universal  party  sentiment  to  the  operations  of  the  Act  of 
1789,  while  it  more  than  ever  committed  the  budding  nation 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


. 


to  the  doctrine  he  advocated.  It  was  in  this  report  that  hi 
enunciated  the  principle  which  protectionists  of  to-day  claim 
to  be  fully  proved  by  experience,  to  wit,  that  internal  compe- 
tition is  an  effectual  corrective  of  monopoly,  and  in  the  end 
tends  to  a lower  scale  of  prices  for  protected  manufactures 
than  prevailed  for  foreign.  His  interpretation  of  the  powers 
conferred  on  the  Government  by  the  clause  of  the  Consti- 
tution relating  to  taxes,  revenue  and  the  common  defence 
has  been  accepted  by  all  political  parties,  and  it  now  pre- 
vails without  regard  to  party  lines. 

This  Act  of  1789  and  this  report  of  1790  form  the  begin- 
ning of  an  historic  and  practical  protective  era  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  an  era  which  lasted,  under  varying  condi- 
tions, which  we  shall  note,  up  until  1816. 

The  previous  session  of  the  First  Congress  had  been  an 
extra  one.  It  was  now,  January  4,  1790,  in  First  Regular 
Session  at  Philadelphia  and  had  received  Hamilton’s  cele- 
brated report.  Federals  and  Anti-Federals  divided  over  the 
payment  of  the  debts,  especially  those  of  the  States,  and  the 
doctrine  of  open  or  close  construction  of  the  Constitution 
was  fast  shaping  up  political  lines.  However,  there  was 
very  little  division  of  sentiment  on  the  propriety  of  increas- 
ing the  rates  of  duty  provided  by  the  Act  of  July  4,  1789, 
and  they  were  increased  by  the  Act  of  August  10,  1790, 
which  went  into  effect  January  1,  1791. 

During  the  Second  Session  of  the  First  Congress,  which 
opened  October  24,  1791,  at  Philadelphia,  there  was  much 
excitement  owing  to  opposition  to  the  Excise  Laws  of  the 
previous  session  and  the  rebellion  against  them  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, known  as  the  “ Whiskey  Rebellion.”  The  animosities 
thus  aroused  served  to  widen  the  gap  between  the  Federals 
and  Anti-Federals,  but  not  enough  to  defeat  further  tariff 
legislation.  The  Act  of  May  2,  1792,  was  passed  without 


*54  • 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


much  difficulty.  It  took  effect  July  I,  1792, and  it  increased 
the  ad  valorem  rates  of  duty  from  2j£  to  5 per  cent.  This 
was  the  third  Tariff  Act  in  three  years,  and  the  drift  of  legisla- 
tion was  in  favor  of  higher  and  more  protective  duties. 

During  the  First  Session  of  the  Third  Congress  which 
met  December  2,  1793,  party  lines  became  still  more  distinct 
over  matters  of  tariff  legislation.  The  Anti-Federals  had 
now  taken  the  name  of  Republicans,  and,  though  without  a 
definite  policy  of  their  own,  found  means  of  coherence  and 
growth  in  opposing  Federal  doctrines.  Yet  it  was  a com- 
paratively easy  matter  to  pass  the  Tariff  Act  of  June  7, 1794, 
which  took  effect  July  1,  1794.  All  parties  were  agreed  as 
to  the  necessity  of  providing  additional  revenue,  which  the 
increased  ad  valorem  rates  in  the  Act  were  designed  to 
secure.  All  parties  were  also  agreed  that  a tariff  was  the 
quietest  and  easiest  way  of  attaining  such  revenue,  and  the 
Anti-Federals,  or  Republicans,  who  had  violently  opposed 
the  excise  laws,  were  even  more  fully  committed  to  a tariff 
as  a revenue  measure  than  the  Federals.  They,  however, 
began  to  draw  the  line  when  the  doctrine  of  protection  was 
broached.  Not  all,  of  course,  but  a few  whose  strict  con- 
struction notions  dominated  their  economic  views. 

The  next  tariff  legislation  was  the  Act  of  May  13,  1800, 
which  took  effect  July  1,  1800.  This  legislation  was  not 
difficult  and  was  still  in  the  line  of  protective  duties.  It 
raised  the  duties  on  sugar  half  a cent  a pound  and  on  silks 
2 per  cent. 

On  March  26,  1804,  atl  amended  Tariff  Act  was  passed 
which  took  effect  July  1,  1804.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  now  the  country  had  undergone  a political  revolution, 
that  the  Republicans  were  in  power  in  Congress  and  that 
Jefferson  was  President.  Yet  the  Tariff  Act  of  1804  was  in 
the  line  of  increased  duties. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


155 


All  the  Acts  thus  far  were  amendatory  of  the  original  Act 
of  1789,  and  were  helpful  of  the  provisions  and  operations 
of  that  Act.  As  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  to  form  opinions 
of  the  workings  of  that  Act,  or  in  other  words,  to  witness 
the  effects  of  incorporating  protective  tariff  legislation  into 
our  institutions,  it  will  be  profitable  to  turn  to  the  sentiment 
of  the  times  respecting  it. 

In  his  seventh  annual  message,  Washington  said  : — “ Our 
agriculture,  commerce  and  manufactures  prosper  beyond 
example.  Every  part  of  the  Union  displays  indications  of 
rapid  and  various  improvement,  and  with  burdens  so  light 
as  scarcely  to  be  perceived.” 

John  Adams  in  his  last  annual  message  said  : — “ I observe 
with  much  satisfaction  that  the  product  of  the  revenue  dur- 
ing the  present  year  is  more  considerable  than  at  any  former 
period.” 

Thomas  Jefferson  in  his  second  annual  message  said : — 
“ To  protect  the  manufactures  adapted  to  our  circumstances 
is  one  of  the  land-marks  by  which  we  should  guide  our- 
selves.” 

The  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1789  and  its  amendments 
had,  in  their  practical  workings,  so  far  exceeded  expecta- 
tions, that  in  1806  Jefferson  found  the  revenues  more  than 
ample  for  the  requirements  of  the  Government.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  surplus  he  said  in  his  sixth  annual  message : — 
“ Shall  we  suppress  the  imposts  and  give  that  advantage  to 
foreign  over  our  domestic  manufactures  ? On  a few  articles 
of  more  general  and  necessary  use,  the  suppression,  in  due 
season,  will  doubtless  be  right,  but  the  great  mass  of  the 
articles  on  which  imposts  are  laid  are  foreign  luxuries, 
purchased  only  by  the  rich,  who  can  afford  themselves  the 
use  of  them.” 

In  1809  he  wrote  to  Humphrey  thus: — “ My  own  idea  is 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


156 

that  we  should  encourage  home  manufactures  to  the  extent 
of  our  own  home  consumption  of  everything  of  which  we 
raise  the  raw  materials.” 

Said  Madison  in  his  special  message  of  May  23,  1809: — 
“ It  will  be  worthy  of  the  just  and  provident  care  of  Congress 
to  make  such  further  alterations  in  the  laws  as  will  more 
especially  protect  and  foster  the  several  branches  of  manu- 
factures which  have  been  recently  instituted  or  extended  by 
the  laudable  exertions  of  our  citizens.” 

Says  Harriman  in  writing  of  the  Tariff  of  1789: — “Agri- 
culture became  more  extensive  and  prosperous ; Commerce 
increased  with  wonderful  rapidity ; old  industries  were  re- 
vived and  many  new  ones  established ; our  merchant  navy 
revived  and  multiplied ; all  branches  of  domestic  trade  pros- 
pered ; our  revenues  exceeded  the  wants  of  government ; 
the  people  became  contented  and  industrious ; the  whole 
country  was  on  the  high  road  to  wealth  and  prosperity.” 

THE  EMBARGO  AND  TARIFF  OF  l8l2. 

Now  while  many  provisions  in  the  Tariff  Acts  up  to  1808 
embraced  the  protective  doctrine,  such  as  duties  on  hemp, 
cordage,  glass,  nails,  salt  and  various  manufactures  of  iron, 
as  has  been  noted  the  duties  were  low,  according  to  present 
standards.  Protection  of  the  textiles  and  of  unmanufactured 
iron  had  not  been  much  thought  of.  But  they  were  soon 
to  draw  attention  and  become  the  great  subjects  of  the  pro- 
tective controversy. 

The  year  1808  marks  a turning-point  in  the  industrial 
history  of  our  country.  The  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of 
Napoleon  and  the  English  Orders  in  Council  led  to  the 
Embargo  Act  of  December,  1807.  The  Non-Intercourse 
Act  followed  it  in  1809.  War  was  declared  against  Great 


Hon.  Randall  L.  Gibson. 

Born  in  Woodford  co.,  Ky.,  September  10,  1832;  graduated  at  Yale 
and  from  Law  Department  of  Tulane  University;  entered  Confederate 
service  and  rose  to  rank  of  Division  Commander ; acquired  a large  law 
practice,  and  engaged  in  planting;  elected  to  43d  Congress,  but  denied 
admission;  elected  to  44th,  45th,  46th  and  47th  Congresses;  elected,  as 
Democrat,  to  United  States  Senate,  1882,  and  re-elected  1888;  one  of 
trustees  of  Peabody  Fund,  and  a Regent  of  Smithsonian  Institution  ; 
member  of  Committees  on  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Naval  Affairs,  Trans- 
portation, etc. 


('57) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


159 


Britain  in  1812.  On  July  1,  1812,  the  Tariff  Act  was  passed, 
which  became  a law  immediately. 

The  passage  of  this  Act  was  strongly  urged  by  Madison 
in  his  message  to  the  Twelfth  Congress : — “ As  a means  to 
preserve  and  promote  the  manufactures  which  have  sprung 
into  existence  and  attained  an  unparalleled  maturity  through- 
out the  United  States  during  the  period  of  the  European 
wars.”  The  younger  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  took 
up  Madison’s  request  and  were  prepared  to  go  to  any  length 
to  grant  it.  Calhoun  and  Lowndes  joined  their  logic  to 
Clay’s  eloquence  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  that  protection  to 
home  industries  should  no  longer  occupy  a place  secondary 
to  the  revenue  idea.  South  Carolina  became  the  highest 
protection  State  in  the  Union,  England  having  levied  a duty 
on  raw  cotton.  The  entire  Republican  party  swung  away 
from  its  strict  construction  notions  and  became  such  liberal 
interpreters  as  that  they  quoted  with  the  utmost  favor  the 
report  of  Hamilton  upon  which  the  earlier  Tariff  Acts  were 
based.  The  Federals  were  dazed  with  the  situation,  and, 
failing  to  see  anything  good  in  their  opponents,  quite  forgot 
their  own  traditions,  and  swung,  under  the  lead  of  Webster, 
quite  to  the  anti-protection  side  of  the  controversy. 

Out  of  the  confused  situation  came  the  “American  Idea’’ 
and  the  Whig  party,  which  was  Clay’s  outlet  from  the  strict 
construction  columns.  The  Tariff  Act  of  the  session — a Re- 
publican, or,  as  some  have  it,  a Democratic  Act — marks 
the  highest  rates  of  duty  reached  from  the  foundation 
of  the  government  up  till  1842.  It  practically  doubled  the 
rates  existing  before.  Sugar  went  from  2 y2  cents  per  pound 
to  5 cents;  coffee  from  5 cents  to  10  cents;  tea  from  18 
cents  to  36;  pig  iron  from  17^  per  cent,  to  30  per  cent.; 
bar  iron  from  17 per  cent,  to  30;  glass  from  22  x/2  per 
cent,  to  40;  manufactures  of  cotton  from  1 7%  per  cent,  tg 


i6o 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


30;  woolens  from  17  per  cent,  to  30;  silk  from  15  per  cent, 
to  25. 

The  Embargo  Act  of  1808,  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  of 
1809,  and  the  highly  protective  Tariff  Act  of  1812, constituted 
a series  of  restrictive  measures  which  had  the  efficacy  of 
prohibitive  duties.  They  gave  an  enormous  stimulus  to  all 
branches  of  industry  whose  products  had  before  been  im- 
ported. Establishments  for  the  manufacture  of  cottons, 
woolens,  iron,  glass,  pottery  and  other  articles,  sprang  up 
as  if  by  magic.  The  success  of  this  extreme  protection 
formed  the  basis  of  that  powerful  movement  which  subse- 
quently became  the  heritage  of  the  Whig  party,  and  which 
had  for  its  object  the  decided  limitation  of  foreign  competi- 
tion both  as  to  manufactures  and  commerce. 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  l8l6. 

The  logic  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1816  is  not  understood  by 
economists,  nor  can  it  be  accounted  for  by  any  one  except 
upon  the  theory  that  having  passed  through  a war,  the 
country  would  probably  settle  back  into  some  such  condi- 
tion as  existed  prior  to  1808.  The  controlling  element  in 
Congress  was  still  the  young  element,  the  element  respon- 
sible for  the  war  and  therefore  responsible  for  its  results. 
They  had  proven  themselves  avowed  protectionists  by  the 
passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1812,  and  by  the  favor  with  which 
they  regarded  the  new  manufactures  which  had  arisen. 
They  were  still  willing  to  assist  them,  for  they  clung  to  fair 
duties  in  the  Act  of  April  27,  1816,  on  those  goods  in 
which  the  most  interest  was  felt,  as  in  textile  fabrics. 

But  here  the  fatality  which  overhung  the  Act  came  in. 
Cotton  and  woolen  goods  were  to  pay  a duty  of  25  per  cent. 
— a protective  duty — till  1819.  After  that  they  were  to  pay 
20  per  cent.  On  some  other  classes  of  goods  the  duties 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


161 


were  decreased  directly,  on  others  increased.  As  to  the 
textiles,  Calhoun  urged  strongly  the  argument  in  favor  of 
protecting  young  industries,  and  at  the  same  time  limiting 
the  protection,  after  a period  when  they  ought  to  be  on  their 
feet. 

As  a whole  the  Act  of  1 8 1 6 was  protective,  but  it  looked 
to  a period  only  three  years  off,  when  it  would  no  longer  be 
so.  This  was  its  misfortune.  It  prepared  foreign  nations 
for  our  market.  Though  our  breadstuffs,  provisions,  cotton 
and  every  product  of  the  soil  were  high  in  price;  though 
wages  and  rents  were  high ; the  currency  was  very  weak 
and  unsettled.  Home  competition  had  reduced  the  price 
of  our  manufactured  products.  The  manufacturers  of  Great 
Britain  found  their  warehouses  bursting  with  wares.  They 
looked  with  awe  on  the  American  situation,  which  revealed 
to  them  the  fact  that  our  home  industries  had  robbed  them 
of  a market.  This  must  not  be.  Those  industries  are  only 
tentative.  By  1819,  when  the  duties  of  1816  reach  their 
minimum,  they  can  no  longer  survive.  We  will  begin  the 
crushing  process  now.  Said  Lord  Brougham  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  “ It  is  well  worth  while  to  incur  a loss  upon 
our  first  exportation,  in  order,  by  the  glut,  to  stifle  in  the 
cradle,  those  infant  manufactures  in  the  United  States,  which 
the  war  has  forced  into  existence." 

Great  Britain  began  to  unload  her  surplus  manufactures 
upon  our  shores  at  far  below  cost.  They  were  goods  that 
were  not  new,  nor  fashionable,  nor  in  demand  at  home.  The 
protective  features  of  the  Act  of  1816  were  insufficient  to 
stay  the  flood.  More  than  twice  the  quantity  were  imported 
that  could  be  consumed.  Great  depression  in  business  set 
in.  Bankruptcy  became  general.  The  near  approach  of 
1819,  when  the  minimum  rates  of  duty  should  go  into  effect, 
but  encouraged  the  inflow  of  foreign  products.  Sayy 


162 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


Thomas  H.  Benton,  “No  price  for  property;  no  sales  ex- 
cept those  of  the  sheriff  and  marshal ; no  purchasers  at 
execution  sales  save  the  creditor  or  some  money  hoarder ; 
no  employment  for  industry  ; no  sale  for  the  products  of  the 
farm ; no  sound  of  the  hammer  save  that  of  the  auctioneer 
knocking  down  property.  Distress  was  the  universal  cry 
of  the  people ; relief,  the  universal  demand,  was  thundered 
at  the  doors  of  Legislatures,  State  and  Federal.” 

This  condition  of  affairs  appalled  Congress  and  brought 
about  the  Tariff  Act  of  1 8 1 8,  which  simply  extended  the 
already  ineffective  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1816  for  a period 
of  seven  years  and  placed  some  few  free  articles  on  the  duti- 
able list.  It  did  not  prove  remedial  to  the  extent  expected 
and  the  panic  of  1817-19  extended  over  a period  of  several 
years. 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 824. 

The  sad  condition  of  affairs,  before  described,  rendered 
relief  necessary.  The  liberal  side  of  the  Republican  party 
held  the  ascendant  in  the  Eighteenth  Congress,  December 
1,  1823,  and  elected  Clay  Speaker  of  the  House.  In  his 
message,  President  Monroe  not  only  announced  the  cele- 
brated “ Monroe  Doctrine,”  but  inclined  to  the  popular 
faction  of  his  party  on  matters  of  protection  and  internal 
revenue.  He  urgently  recommended  “ additional  protection 
to  those  articles  which  we  are  prepared  to  manufacture.” 

A bill  was  framed  and  debated  for  two  months.  Calhoun 
who  had  deserted  Clay,  Daniel  Webster  and  John  Randolph, 
led  the  free-trade  forces.  Andrew  Jackson  and  James 
Buchanan  were  among  the  strongest  advocates  of  the  bill. 
It  did  not  fix  rates  as  high  as  the  Act  of  1812,  but  it  recog- 
nized the  doctrine  of  protection  more  distinctly  than  any 
former  Act.  The  strict  constructionists  urged  their  old 
argument  against  the  constitutionality  of  protection  and,  for 


Hon.  Nathan  Goff. 

Born  in  Clarksburg,  W.  Va.,  October  9,  1834;  educated  at  N.  W. 
Virginia  Academy,  Georgetown  College,  and  University  of  New  York; 
entered  Union  army  (1861)  in  3d  Regiment  W.  Va.  Volunteers;  Mnjor 
of  4th  Va.  Cavalry,  1863;  admitted  to  bar,  1865;  elected  to  W.  Va. 
Legislature,  1868;  appointed  District  Attorney  and  resigned,  in  1881, 
to  accept  the  Secretaryship  of  Navy  under  Garfield  ; re-appointed  U.  S. 
District  Attorney  for  W.  Va.  in  1881;  resigned  same  in  1882;  elected 
to  Congress,  as  Republican,  in  1884  and  1886;  candidate  for  Governor 
of  State  and  elected,  but  unseated  in  disputed  contest;  a graceful  orator, 
strong  debater,  and  prominent  Republican  leader. 

(I63) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


165 


the  first  time  in  our  history,  supplemented  it  with  the  argu- 
ment that  a protective  tariff  was  unfair  to  the  South.  As 
the  lines  shaped  up  they  presented  almost  a solid  array  of 
Southern  against  a solid  array  of  Northern  States. 

The  bill  passed  by  a close  vote,  May  22,  1824,  and  it 
fully  engrafted  the  “ American  System  ” on  our  national 
politics.  It  fixed  a duty  on  sugar  of  3 cents  per  pound ; 
coffee,  5 cents;  tea,  25  cents;  salt,  20  cents;  pig-iron,  20 
per  cent. ; bar-iron,  $30  per  ton  ; glass,  30  per  cent,  and  3 
cents  a pound ; manufactures  of  cotton,  25  per  cent. ; wool- 
ens, 30  per  cent. ; silk,  25  per  cent. 

The  financial  and  industrial  situation  responded  promptly 
to  this  Act.  There  was  such  a pronounced  betterment  of 
affairs  that  the  friends  of  the  Act  were  encouraged  to  try 
their  hand  at  further  legislation  in  the  line  of  protection. 

TARIFF  OF  1828. 

In  the  Twentieth  Congress  the  Democrats  (formerly  Re- 
publicans) were  in  a majority.  They  were  divided,  how- 
ever, over  a Protective  Tariff.  Those  of  the  Northern  States 
united  with  the  National  Republicans  (Whigs)  and  brought 
about  the  Tariff  Act  of  May  19,  1828.  It  was  largely  a 
Jackson  measure,  who  had  carried  New  York,  Pennsylvania 
and  Illinois,  on  his  protective  tariff  record. 

This  Act  of  1828  had  little  peculiar  about  it,  except  that 
it  increased  the  duty  on  woolens  and  few  raw  materials,  in- 
cluding wool.  Yet  it  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  moment- 
ous Tariff  Acts  in  our  history.  (1)  It  emphasized  the 
“American  Idea  ” by  introducing  protection  in  every  change 
of  the  Act  of  1824.  (2)  It  was  the  turning-point  of  the 

hitherto  hostile  New  England  sentiment,  Webster  having 
changed  ground  and  entered  on  its  advocacy.  (3)  The 
South  entirely  sectionalized  its  opposition  to  it,  and  justified 


i66 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


nullification  of  it  as  a blow  at  the  planting  interests,  as  a dis- 
crimination against  unpaid  labor,  and  as  unconstitutional. 

Of  the  operations  of  the  two  protective  Acts  of  1824  and 
1828,  Jackson  said  in  his  message  of  1832  : — Our  country 
presents  on  every  side  marks  of  prosperity  and  happiness, 
unequalled  perhaps  in  any  portion  of  the  world.”  Webster 
said  : — “ The  relief  was  profound  and  general,  reaching  all 
classes — farmers,  manufacturers,  ship-owners,  mechanics, 
day  laborers.”  Clay  said: — “If  the  term  of  seven  years 
were  selected  to  measure  the  greatest  prosperity  of  this 
people  since  the  establishment  of  the  Constitution,  it  would 
be  exactly  that  period  of  seven  years  which  immediately 
followed  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1824.” 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 832. 

The  Tariff  Act  of  1828  led  to  bitter  party  and  sectional 
turmoil.  The  South  was  bitterly  opposed  to  it.  It  had  be- 
come a kind  of  fashion  to  prepare  for  a National  Campaign 
by  amending  the  Tariff  Act.  An  Act  passed  May,  1830, 
which  scaled  considerably  the  rates  of  duty  of  the  Act  of 
1828,  proved  unsatisfactory,  because  it  did  not  eliminate  the 
protective  features  of  that  Act.  The  nullifying  sentiment  of 
the  South  demanded  the  repudiation  of  the  protective  policy 
and  the  affirmation  of  the  free-trade  policy  by  the  govern- 
ment. It  was  a powerful  sentiment  and  must  be  appeased, 
else  Jackson  could  not  hope  to  succeed  himself. 

Hence  the  Tariff  Act  of  1832,  which  reduced  the  rates  of 
duty  considerably  and  placed  coffee  and  tea  on  the  free  list. 
It  failed  of  its  purpose,  because  it  contained  no  repudiation 
of  the  protective  idea.  Nullification  set  in  all  the  same  and 
South  Carolina,  November  19,  1832,  declared  the  Tariff  Acts 
of  1828  and  1832  “null  and  void.” 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


167 


TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 833. 

The  Twenty-second  Congress — December  3,  1832 — at  its 
second  session,  had  to  meet  the  question  of  Nullification.  It 
passed  the  “ Force  Bill,”  which  enabled  Jackson  to  collect 
the  duties  under  the  Act  of  1832,  and  then  it  changed  the 
tenor  of  the  Act  by  the  Compromise  Act  introduced  by 
Henry  Clay,  passed  March  2,  1833,  and  designed  to  show 
to  the  nullifiers  that  the  protectionists  were  not  necessarily 
their  enemies.  It  had  the  weakness  of  all  compromises,  and 
was  immediately  heralded  by  the  nullifiers  as  their  vindica- 
tion, as  a surrender  of  the  “ American  System  ” and  as  a 
justification  of  South  Carolina.  It  did  not  enact  anything 
affirmatively,  but  took  the  tariff  of  1832  as  a basis,  and 
scaled  its  rates  by  biennial  reductions,  till  at  the  end  of  ten 
years  a uniform  rate  of  not  exceeding  20  per  cent,  should  pre- 
vail. This  was  ingenious  and  gradual  repeal  of  a protective 
Act  and  a practical  abandonment  of  the  protective  principle. 
It  was  notice  to  the  people  and  was  accepted  as  such  by  all 
foreign  countries,  that  the  United  States  had  repudiated  its 
earlier  policy  of  protection.  Henceforth  the  tariff  was  fully 
afloat  on  the  sea  of  politics. 

A very  few  biennial  reductions  brought  the  rates  of  the 
tariff  of  1832  to  where  they  were  no  longer  protective,  and 
there  came  an  inundation  of  foreign  goods  as  in  1817-19. 
Financial  depression  followed.  Prices  fell ; production 
diminished ; workmen  became  idle ; farm  products  found  no 
market;  public  revenue  fell  off  25  per  cent. ; the  government 
had  to  borrow  at  a ruinous  discount  in  order  to  pay  current 
expenses.  The  nation  was  in  the  midst  of  the  calamitous 
panic  of  1837 — worse  even  than  that  of  1818-19.  Aside 
from  the  moral  strain  of  the  disaster,  the  money  loss  was 
estimated  at  $1,000,000,000. 


i6S 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


TARIFF  OF  1842. 

The  drift  of  popular  sentiment  was  entirely  away  from 
Van  Buren,  1837-1841.  The  Whigs  took  the  lead  and 
nominated  William  Henry  Harrison,  in  December,  1839, 
without  a platform.  The  Democrats  renominated  Van 
Buren  in  May,  1840,  and  placed  him  on  an  elaborate  plat- 
form which  contained  the  plank: — “Justice  and  sound 
policy  forbids  the  government  to  foster  one  branch  of  indus- 
try to  the  detriment  of  another,  or  one  section  to  the  injury 
of  another.”  It  also  contained  a plank  which  read  : — “ The 
Constitution  does  not  confer  the  right  on  the  government 
to  carry  on  a system  of  internal  improvements.” 

Harrison  was  elected  President  and  the  Congress  had  a 
Whig  majority  of  six  in  the  Senate  and  twenty-five  in  the 
House.  Harrison  died  in  just  one  month  after  his  inaugura- 
tion, April  4,  1841,  and  Tyler  became  President.  It  was 
well  known  that  he  was  not  a protectionist.  The  Whigs 
enacted  the  Tariff  Act  of  August  30,  1842,  in  obedience  to 
a popular  demand.  The  debates  on  it  were  acrimonious 
and,  as  to  the  opponents,  involved  the  old  arguments  of 
1828  and  1832,  against  the  constitutionality  of  protection 
and  the  right  to  nullify  an  Act  of  Congress.  It  passed, 
however,  and  President  Tylei  vetoed  it,  giving  as  a reason 
that  it  violated  the  compromise  of  1833,  which,  as  to  pro- 
tection and  revenue,  was  to  run  till  1842,  and,  as  to  non-dis- 
crimination against  the  planting  interests,  was  practically 
without  time.  This  Act  contained  pronounced  protective 
features.  Another  Act  was  passed,  without  protective  feat- 
ures, but  with  a clause  providing  for  the  distribution  of  any 
surplus  that  might  arise  to  the  States.  This  too  was  vetoed. 
A third  Act  was  passed  without  the  surplus  clause.  This 
became  the  Tariff  Act  of  August  10,  1842. 


Mi  i 


Hon.  John  B.  Gordon. 


Born  in  Upson  co.,  Ga.,  February  6,  1832;  educated  at  University  of 
Georgia;  read  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  entered  Confederate  army  and 
rose  to  rank  of  Major-General;  wounded  eight  times;  Democratic 
Candidate  for  Governor  of  Georgia,  1868 ; Presidential  Elector  for 
State-at-Large,  1868  and  1872 ; elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a Democrat, 
1872;  re-elected  to  Senate,  1879;  elected  Governor  of  State,  1886;  re- 
elected, 1888;  re-elected  U.  S.  Senator,  1890;  member  of  Committees 
on  Civil  Service,  Coast  Defences,  Railroads,  Territories  and  Transpor- 


• auon. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


171 

It  found,  under  the  operation  of  the  Scaling  Act  of  1833, 
a uniform  duty  of  20  per  cent.  This  it  changed,  by  raising 
cotton  goods  to  30  per  cent.;  woolens  to  40  per  cent.; 
silks  to  $2.50  per  pound ; bar-iron  to  $25  per  ton  ; pig-iron 
to  $9  per  ton ; sugar  to  2^  cents  per  pound.  Tea  and 
coffee  remained  free.  Clay  and  Calhoun,  who  were 
together  in  the  Compromise  of  1833,  were  antagonists  over 
this  Act  of  1842.  This  was  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress. 

The  Act  of  1842  was  so  shorn  of  its  original  features  that 
it  could  scarcely  be  called  protective,  but  such  as  it  was  it 
sufficed  to  lift  the  cloud  of  depression  and  introduce  an  era 
of  prosperity  which  had  not  been  witnessed  since  1832. 
Business  revived.  Factories  began  to  operate.  Customs 
receipts  rose  and  put  the  Government  in  possession  of  much 
needed  revenue.  Labor  sprang  into  demand.  Farm  pro- 
duce  rose  in  price.  A large  demand  arose  for  iron,  wool, 
cotton,  coal,  and  through  competition  in  manufactures,  and 
the  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery,  the  prices  of 
manufactured  articles  were  cheaper  than  ever  before.  Roads, 
canals,  ships,  returned  a profit.  Corporations,  States,  and 
even  the  general  Government,  rose  from  bankruptcy  to  high 
credit.  Said  President  Polk  in  his  message  of  1846,  “ Labor 
in  all  its  branches  is  receiving  ample  reward.  The  progress 
of  our  country  in  resources  and  wealth  and  in  the  happy 
condition  of  our  people,  is  without  example  in  the  history 
of  nations.” 

THE  TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 846. 

The  National  Whig  Convention  of  1844  introduced  this 
plank  into  its  platform : — “ A tariff  for  revenue,  discriminat- 
ing with  reference  to  protection  of  domestic  labor.”  The 
Democrats  reaffirmed  their  opposition  to  protection,  as  in 
the  platform  of  1840,  though  they  went  to  the  country  on 


172 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


the  cry  of  “ Polk,  Dallas  and  the  Tariff  of  1842.”  The  elec- 
tion of  Polk  and  a Democratic  House  favored  the  passage, 
in  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  of  a Tariff  Act  which  should 
repeal  or  modify  that  of  1842,  for  it  was  known  that  the 
South  was  bent  on  such  repeal.  But  northern  Democrats 
refused  to  bow  to  the  situation.  Debate  took  a sectional 
turn.  Northern  Democrats  pleaded  the  promises  of  the 
campaign,  not  to  interfere  with  the  Tariff  of  1842.  They 
were  overruled.  The  Act  of  July  30,  1846,  passed  the 
House,  which  had  a Democratic  majority  of  61  votes.  In 
the  Senate,  which  had  a Democratic  majority  of  five,  it  met 
with  a tie,  and  the  tie  was  broken  by  the  casting  vote  of 
George  M.  Dallas,  Vice-President,  who  voted  in  favor  of  the 
measure.  The  Act  of  1846  reduced  the  rates  of  1842,  from 
5 to  25  per  cent.,  introduced  the  theory  of  general  ad  valorem 
duties,  and  affirmed  the  doctrine  of  revenue  without  incident 
protection.  It  was  a disappointing  Act  to  Northern  Demo- 
crats and  Whigs,  and  while  it  was  far  removed  from  the 
promises  of  the  campaign,  it  nevertheless  fitted  in  with  the 
National  platform. 

While  the  reduced  tariff  of  1846,  and  the  means  by  which 
such  reduction  was  secured,  led  to  that  revulsion  of  public 
sentiment  which  culminated  in  the  Whig  successes  of  1848, 
the  country  happily  escaped  for  a time  the  disasters  which 
had  followed,  quickly  and  inevitably,  former  tariff  reduc- 
tions. 

The  Mexican  war  (1846-48)  created  an  extra  demand  for 
munitions  and  supplies  estimated  at  over  $100,000,000. 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  (1849)  increased  the 
demand  for  labor,  agricultural  products,  mining  materials 
and  shipping;  and  sent  for  ten  years  $55,000,000  a year  in 
gold  into  the  country. 

The  European  countries  were  in  revolution  (1848-51). 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


173 


Their  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industries  were  para- 
lyzed. They  could  not  export ; on  the  contrary  required 
food  supplies. 

The  Crimean  war  followed,  involving  all  Europe,  and 
creating  an  extraordinary  demand  for  American  breadstuff's. 

The  Irish  famine  occurred  and  added  to  the  demand  for 
additional  breadstuff's. 

From  1846  to  1856  these  adventitious  aids  to  the  indus- 
tries and  trade  of  the  United  States  proved  to  be  better  than 
any  protective  agency  that  might  have  been  sought  through 
forms  of  tariff*  laws.  But  unfortunately  they  were  foreign 
to  sober  enactment  and  any  economic  principle.  They  came 
and  went  without  regard  to  our  domestic  situation,  our  com- 
fort or  discomfort,  our  weal  or  woe. 

By  1854  the  true  economic  condition  began  to  assert 
itself.  Foreign  imports  reappeared  in  our  marts  in  amazing 
quantities  and  at  demoralizing  prices.  The  crises  abroad 
being  over,  our  exports  declined.  Manufactories  suspended 
operations,  being  unable  to  compete  with  the  supply  from 
abroad. 

In  1848  the  national  Democratic  platform  contained  a 
plank  denouncing  a Tariff*,  except  for  revenue,  and  hailing 
“ the  noble  impulse  given  to  the  cause  of  free-trade  by  the 
repeal  of  the  tariff*  of  1842,  and  the  creation  of  the  more 
equal,  honest  and  productive  tariff  of  1846.”  The  Whigs 
did  not  adopt  a platform. 

The  National  Democratic  platform  of  1852  reaffirmed  that 
of  1848,  in  great  part;  and  that  of  the  Whigs  affirmed  “a 
tariff*  for  revenue  with  suitable  encouragement  to  American 
industry.” 

The  Democratic  platform  of  1856  contained  the  plank: — 
“ That  the  time  has  come  for  the  people  of  the  United 


174 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


States  to  declare  themselves  in  favor  of  free  seas  and  pro- 
gressive free  trade  throughout  the  world.” 

The  new  Republican  party  did  not  introduce  a tariff  plank 
into  its  platform  of  1856. 

THE  TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 857. 

In  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  December  5,  1855,  the 
Democrats  had  a majority  of  9 in  the  Senate,  but  their 
magnificent  majority  in  the  previous  House  was  turned  into 
a medley  of  straight  Democrats,  pro-slavery  Whigs,  Know- 
Nothings  and  Anti-Nebraska  men.  Owing  to  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  troubles,  the  Congress  was  not  a dispassionate 
body.  While  it  showed  a spirit  of  generosity  in  encourag- 
ing railroad  enterprise  and  grants  of  public  lands,  it  swung 
without  apparent  cause,  and  in  the  face  of  solemn  admoni- 
tions, clear  over  to  a free-trade  policy,  and  under  existing 
circumstances  struck  the  country  a cruel  blow  on  the  very 
last  day  of  its  Second  Session,  March  3,  1857.  This  is  the 
date  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  that  year.  The  only  excuse  offered 
for  its  passage  was  the  redundancy  of  revenue.  This  was 
almost  instantaneously  met  by  a flood  of  importations,  for 
the  Act  reduced  duties  along  the  entire  line  of  imports  of 
leading  articles,  almost  to  such  rates  as  had  prevailed  before 
the  war  of  1812,  and  had  prevailed  at  no  time  since,  except 
at  the  end  of  the  sliding  scale  in  1841,  as  provided  in  the 
Compromise  Act  of  1833. 

As  had  ever  been,  the  already  tottering  industries  were 
struck  with  paralysis,  and  there  occurred  an  exhaustive  out- 
pour of  specie  to  foreign  parts.  Within  six  months  of  the 
passage  of  the  Act  the  country  was  in  the  midst  of  distress- 
ing panic.  No  branch  of  industry  escaped  the  disaster. 
Ruin  was  deep  and  universal.  Ere  it  ceased  there  were 
5,123  commercial  failures.  The  government  was  compefied 


Born  in  Franklin  co.,  Tenn. ; educated  at  Winchester  Academy;  ad- 
mitted to  bar  at  Paris,  Tenn.,  1841 ; elected  as  Democrat  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1847  ; elected  to  Congress  as  Democrat  to  represent  Ninth  Con- 
gressional District,  1849 ; re-elected  in  1851 ; moved  to  Memphis  and 
continued  law  practice ; elected  Governor  of  State  in  1857,  1859  and 
1861 ; served  during  war  as  Aid  to  Commanding  General  of  Confederate 
Army  of  Tennessee;  resumed  law  practice  at  Memphis,  1867 ; elected 
to  United  States  Senate  in  1876;  re-elected,  1883  and  1889;  an  able 
debater,  earnest  statesman  of  the  strict-construction  school,  and  popular 
with  his  constituents. 


(I76) 


Hon.  Michael  D.  Harter. 


Born  at  Canton,  O.,  April  6,  1846;  educated  as  a banker  and  manu- 
facturer ; an  ardent  advocate  of  economic  reforms,  and  an  able  writer 
and  speaker  upon  financial  and  industrial  subjects ; opposed  to  class 
legislation  and  to  a debased  currency ; elected  to  51st  Congress,  as  a 
Democrat,  for  15th  Ohio  District,  by  a majority  of  3800  votes;  re-elected 
to  52d  Congress ; distinguished  in  the  debates  of  the  Congress,  and  in 
shaping  legislation ; a studious,  conservative,  but  courageous  man,  pre- 
ferring the  intelligent  and  sensible  in  politics  to  the  sensational  and 
temporary,  and  therefore  a rational  rather  than  radical  factor  in  his 
party . 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


179 


to  borrow  money  for  necessary  expenses  at  a discount  of 
eight  to  ten  per  cent.  Up  to  1861  the  public  debt  increased 
^46,000,000,  and  during  the  same  time  the  expenditures 
exceeded  the  receipts  by  $77,234,1 16.  President  Buchanan, 
in  his  annual  message,  said  : “ With  unsurpassed  plenty  in 
all  the  productions  and  all  the  elements  of  natural  wealth, 
our  manufacturers  have  suspended;  our  public  works  are 
retarded ; our  private  enterprises  of  different  kinds  are 
abandoned ; thousands  of  useful  laborers  are  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  reduced  to  want.  We  have  possessed  all 
the  elements  of  material  wealth  in  rich  abundance,  and  yet, 
notwithstanding  all  these  advantages,  our  country,  in  its 
monetary  interests,  is  in  a deplorable  condition.” 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  l86l. 

The  Democratic  platform  of  i860  affirmed  that  of  1856. 
The  Republican  platform  favored  a revenue  for  duties,  with 
such  adjustment  of  them  as  would  “develop  the  industries 
of  the  whole  country.” 

By  the  withdrawal  of  members  from  the  Thirty-sixth 
Congress,  to  follow  the  seceding  States,  the  Republicans 
came  into  a strong  majority  during  the  second  session,  met 
December  3,  i860.  They  improved  their  opportunity  by 
the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  March  2,  1861.  The  Act 
was  natural  to  the  party  and  the  situation.  It  increased 
duties  all  along  the  line  of  imports,  and  reintroduced  the 
protective  principle  which  had  prevailed  with  slight  modifi- 
cation from  1789  to  1832,  and  from  1842  to  1846.  It  is 
needless  here  to  inquire  into  the  rates  of  duty  established 
by  this  tariff.  They  differed  radically  from  those  imposed 
in  the  Act  of  1857,  and  were  so  laid  as  to  best  effect  the 
object  of  revenue,  which  was  then,  or  soon  would  be,  greatly 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


180 

needed,  and  at  the  same  time  apply  and  confirm  the  doctrine 
of  protection,  as  to  labor,  manufactures  and  a home  market. 

The  war  of  the  Rebellion  helped  to  sanction  this  Act  to 
the  popular  will  and  universal  need.  It  was  amended  by 
the  Act  of  December  24,  1861,  so  as  to  increase  the  revenues. 
It  was  still  further  amended  by  the  Act  of  June  30,  1864, 
which  increased  rates  of  duty,  and  made  them  more  protec- 
tive. There  was  another  amendment,  March  2,  1867,  which 
chiefly  related  to  manufacture  of  woolens,  an  industry 
which  had  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the  war,  and  which 
was  threatened  by  foreign  competition  in  time  of  peace. 

The  principle  of  both  revenue  and  protection  had  now 
been  strained  to  the  uttermost  by  the  exigency  of  war,  and 
the  period  had  arrived  for  a modification  of  duties.  This 
modification  came  about  under  the  amendatory  Tariff  Act  of 
June  6,  1872,  which  reduced  duties  to  a considerable  extent, 
but  without  much  discrimination,  and  added  largely  to  the 
free  list. 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 874. 

Though  this  Act  did  not  attempt  general  revision,  and  was 
still  amendatory,  it  was  nevertheless  important  in  the  respect 
that  it  was  an  attempt  to  correct  the  inconsiderate  reduc- 
tions of  the  Act  of  1872.  The  panic  of  1873  had  followed 
the  reductions  of  1872,  and  though  it  was  a world’s  panic, 
and  hardly  attributable  to  the  legislation  of  any  one  nation, 
it  served  as  a reminder  that  such  catastrophes  had  invariably 
succeeded  a too  rapid  reduction  of  duties  and  too  wide  a 
departure  from  the  policy  of  protection.  Therefore  the  Act 
of  June  22,  1874,  stiffened  rates  on  dutiable  articles  of  a 
kind  which  was  liable  to  suffer  from  competition,  broadened 
the  protective  idea  as  to  new  industries  and  home  labor,  and 
at  the  same  time  allowed  a liberal  free  list,  mostly  of  raw 
materials  and  unmanufactured  articles.  It  was  passed 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


t8i 

during  the  first  session  of  the  Forty-third  Congress,  which 
had  a large  Republican  majority. 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  1 883. 

The  Republican  platform  of  1880  contained  a distinctive 
protective  plank  ; the  Democratic  platform  declared  for  “ a 
tariff  for  revenue  only.”  The  Forty-seventh  Congress  had 
a Republican  working  majority  in  the  House,  but  a tie  in 
the  Senate.  Owing  to  the  death  of  Garfield  and  the  little 
work  done  by  the  previous  Congress,  it  stood  at  the  apex 
of  an  immense  amount  of  legislation.  At  the  first  session, 
a bill  was  passed,  May  15,  1882,  creating  a Tariff  Commis- 
sion. This  Commission  sat  at  various  places  during  1882, 
and  its  report  became  the  basis  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  the 
succeeding  session.  It  was  a non-partisan  Commission,  and 
its  existence  was  due  to  a sentiment  pervading  all  parties 
that  some  highly  deliberate  step  was  necessary  to  correct 
the  incongruities  of  existing  Tariff  Acts,  and  re-adapt  rates 
of  duty  to  our  newer  and  more  widely  diversified  industries. 

The  Commission  worked  laboriously,  and  with  deference 
to  the  spirit  of  reform  which  had  called  it  into  existence, 
and,  it  may  be  said,  with  due  regard  to  the  sentiment  of  the 
hour  against  prohibitive,  or  even  protective,  rates  as  to  es- 
tablished industries.  Its  conclusions  pointed  to  measures 
which  reduced  duties  along  the  entire  line  of  imports,  in 
general  at  least  25  per  cent.,  in  some  cases  more,  in  others 
less.  Though  the  Congress  did  not  adopt  all  of  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  Commission,  its  report,  as  already  stated, 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  Act  of  1883. 

The  Act  was  passed  March  3,  1883,  after  protracted  dis- 
cussion. While  it  strove  to  equalize  rates  and  abolish  in- 
congruities, it  did  not  prove  to  be  a success.  Interests  were 
so  conflicting  that  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  crudities  and 


182 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


hardships.  The  demands  of  manufacturers  for  lighter 
duties  on,  or  for  free,  raw  materials  worked  to  the  injury  of 
the  producing  classes,  and  vice  versa.  The  Act  was  in  the 
nature  of  a compromise  all  round,  but  it  showed  that  the 
entire  country  had  come  to  regard  this  class  of  legislation 
as  of  the  highest  moment,  and  vital  to  its  interests. 

In  the  Forty-eighth  Congress  (1884),  which,  after  the 
political  “tidal  wave”  of  1882,  contained  a large  Demo- 
cratic majority  in  the  House,  a determined  effort  was  made 
to  pass  the  Morrison  Tariff  Bill,  which  provided  for  a hori- 
zontal reduction  of  duties  to  the  extent  of  twenty  per  cent. 
The  Democrats  divided  on  the  merits  of  the  bill  and  it  was 
disposed  of  by  striking  out  its  enacting  clause. 

TARIFF  ACT  OF  189O. 

The  Republican  National  platform  of  1884  distinctly 
enunciated  the  doctrine  of  protection.  The  Democratic 
platform  contained  a pledge  of  “ tariff  revision.”  There 
was  no  further  excitement  over  the  tariff  till  President 
Cleveland  delivered  his  message  to  Congress  in  December, 
1887.  It  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to  tariff  systems  and 
laws,  excepted  to  existing  duties  on  wool  and  necessaries, 
and  directly  opposed  the  protective  idea.  It  was  an  earnest 
paper  and  had  all  the  weight  of  a deliberate  and  special  an- 
nouncement to  the  American  people.  The  free-trade  wing 
of  the  party  hailed  it  as  a recognition  of  their  views.  The 
“ revenue  reform  ” element,  headed  by  Mr.  Randall,  re- 
garded it  as  unwise,  as  containing  the  seeds  of  political  dis- 
aster, and  as  crushing  out  the  minority  element  in  the  party. 
The  Republicans  treated  it  as  a challenge  to  contest  to  the 
bitter  end  the  issue  of  Free-Trade  vs.  Protection,  though 
they  regarded  it  as  unnecessarily  bitter  in  expression,  es- 
pecially in  such  sentences  as,  “ But  our  present  tariff  laws, 


Hon.  Anthony  Higgins. 

Horn  in  New  Castle  co.,  Del.,  October  1,  1840;  graduated  at  Yale,  in 
1861 ; studied  law  at  Harvard  Law  School  and  admitted  to  bar,  1864 ; 
appointed  Deputy  Attorney-General,  1864;  United  States  Attorney  fur 
Delaware,  1869-76 ; Chairman  of  Republican  State  Committee,  1868; 
candidate  for  United  States  Senate,  1881,  and  received  vote  of  Repub- 
lican members  of  Legislature ; Republican  candidate  for  Congress, 
1884;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as  Republican,  in  1889;  term 
expires  March  3,  1895;  first  Republican  Senator  from  State  in  great 
number  of  years;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Manufactures,  and  mem- 
ber of  Committees  on  Coast  Defences,  District  of  Columbia,  Interstate 
Commerce,  and  Privileges  and  Elections. 

(*83) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


185 


the  vicious,  inequitable  and  illogical  source  of  unnecessary 
taxation,  ought  to  be  at  once  revised  and  amended.”  The 
English  press  was  profuse  in  its  praise,  and  as  the  Spectator 
said,  “ His  terse  and  telling  message  has  struck  a blow  at 
American  protection  such  as  could  never  have  been  struck 
by  any  free-trade  league.” 

What  became  known  as  the  “ Mills’  Tariff  Bill,”  suppos- 
ably  framed  to  meet  the  President’s  views,  was  reported  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  March  1,  1888.  It  made  sig- 
nificant reductions  in  existing  tariff  rates,  and  at  once 
became  the  absorbing  measure  of  the  first  session  of  the 
Fiftieth  Congress.  It  was  evident  that  upon  it,  and  the 
repeal  of  internal  taxation,  party  lines  would  be  closely 
drawn,  except  as  to  the  Democratic  contingent  led  by  Mr. 
Randall.  The  bill  proved  to  have  been  hastily  and  crudely 
drawn,  and  the  debates  upon  it  took  a wide  range  and  were 
exhaustive  of  the  merits  of  free-trade  and  protection.  It 
passed  the  House  July  21,  1888,  but  was  met  by  a counter 
bill  in  the  Senate,  which  embodied  the  Republican  doctrine 
of  protection.  The  two  parties  were  now  hopelessly  wide 
apart,  the  time  of  the  session  was  exhausted,  and  both 
appealed  to  the  country  on  the  record  made  in  the  Con- 
gress. 

The  Republican  national  platform  of  1888  pledged  un- 
compromising favor  for  the  American  system  of  protection. 
The  Democratic  platform  reaffirmed  that  of  1884,  endorsed 
the  views  of  President  Cleveland  in  his  last  annual  message, 
and  also  the  efforts  of  the  Democratic  Congress  to  secure  a 
reduction  of  excessive  taxation. 

The  issue  of  the  campaign  of  1888  is  well  known.  With 
Harrison  was  elected  a Republican  Congress.  The  issue 
had  been  so  wholly  that  of  Free-trade  vs.  Protection  that 
the  way  of  the  Republican  majority  was  plain.  The  Com- 


1 86 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION: 


mittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  whose  chairman  was  William 
McKinley,  invited  all  the  interests  concerned  in  tariff  revis- 
ion to  a hearing.  A bill  was  finally  framed,  which  became 
known  as  the  “ McKinley  Bill.”  The  effort  was  to  embody 
in  the  bill  the  experience  of  all  former  tariff  legislation,  and 
what  was  best  of  all  former  Acts ; to  impose  rates  of  a dis- 
tinctively protective  character,  and  in  the  interest  of  Ameri- 
can labor,  on  manufactures  which  could  exist  here,  but 
whose  existence  was  threatened  by  foreign  competition ; to 
impose  similar  rates  on  goods,  such  as  tin  plates,  which  we 
did  not,  but  could  manufacture,  and  ought  to ; to  largely 
reduce  the  duty  on  necessaries,  or  exempt  them  altogether, 
as  by  making  sugar  free ; to  increase  the  free  list  by  placing 
all  raw  materials  on  it  whose  importation  did  not  compete 
with  the  home  growth  of  the  same ; to  introduce  the  policy 
of  reciprocity  by  which  we  could  gain  something  by  en- 
larged trade  in  return  for  the  loss  of  duties  on  sugars  and 
such  articles. 

A great  deal  of  thought  was  given  to  the  bill,  and  it  was 
fully  debated  in  Congress.  Perhaps  no  Tariff  Act  was  ever 
passed,  in  whose  preparation  so  many  interests  had  been  so 
fully  consulted,  and  with  whose  provisions  the  varied  inter- 
ests were  so  fully  satisfied.  Certainly  none  ever  passed  that 
had  to  undergo  more  minute  criticism,  whose  merits  were 
more  elaborately  discussed,  and  respecting  which  so  many 
prophecies,  good  and  bad,  were  indulged.  Its  passage  oc- 
cupied the  entire  time  of  the  first  session  of  the  Fifty-first 
Congress,  and  it  was  not  until  October.  I,  1890,  that  it  be- 
came a law.  No  other  enactment  of  the  Congress  approached 
it  in  importance. 

So  prominent  was  this  legislation,  and  such  the  character 
of  prophecies  respecting  it,  that  hardly  anything  else  was 
heard  in  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1890.  As  the  im- 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


187 


aginations  of  its  opponents  had  free  play,  and  as  nothing 
could  be  affirmed  of  its  practical  workings  by  its  friends 
before  it  began  to  work,  there  was  another  political  “tidal 
wave”  like  that  of  1882,  and  the  Democrats  entered  the 
Fifty-second  Congress  with  an  overwhelming  majority. 

They  were  under  the  same  obligations  to  repeal  the 
obnoxious  McKinley  Act,  and  enact  a measure  which 
embraced  their  views,  as  the  Republicans  were  in  the  Fifty- 
first  Congress.  They  were  in  far  better  condition  to  do  this, 
as  to  the  House,  for  their  majority  was  overwhelming. 
They,  however,  did  not  attempt  repeal  or  general  revision, 
but  introduced  a series  of  Acts  relating  to  special  articles, 
such  as  the  lowering  of  duties  on  manufactures  of  wool  and 
on  tin-plates,  and  the  placing  of  wool,  binding  twine,  etc.,  on 
the  free  list.  The  discussion  of  these  provisions  was  ani- 
mated, and  in  general  they  passed  the  House.  They  served 
to  keep  the  sentiment  of  the  respective  parties  prominent, 
and  to  shape  the  issues  for  a retrial  in  the  campaign  of  1892, 
by  which  time  the  practical  workings  of  the  Act  of  1890  will 
have  tested  many  theories,  and  will  compel  orators  to  hew 
closely  to  lines  of  facts  and  figures  in  order  to  carry  convic- 
tion. 

The  McKinley  Act  increased  duties  on  about  1 1 5 articles, 
embracing  farm  products,  manufactures  not  sufficiently  pro- 
tected, manufactures  to  be  established,  luxuries,  such  as 
wines.  It  decreased  duties  on  about  190  articles,  embracing 
manufactures  established,  or  which  could  not  suffer  from 
foreign  competition.  It  left  the  duties  unchanged  on  249 
articles.  It  enlarged  the  free  list  till  it  embraces  55.75  per 
cent,  of  all  imports,  or  22.48  more  than  previous  tariffs. 
The  placing  of  sugar  on  the  free  list  was  a loss  of  revenue 
equal  to  $54,000,000  a year. 


i88 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


DRIFT  OF  TARIFF  LEGISLATION  ABROAD. 

The  nations  which  occupy  the  Continent  of  Europe  have, 
without  exception,  introduced  into  their  commercial  and 
industrial  systems,  within  a very  few  years,  the  principle  of 
protection.  This  has  been  marked  by  economists  of  every 
school.  Great  Britain  alone  has  remained  firm  to  her  doc- 
trine of  free-trade.  On  May  23,  1892,  Lord  Salisbury,  the 
English  Premier,  delivered  a speech  at  Hastings,  in  which 
he  discussed  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  as  to  her  external 
trade.  The  speech,  coming  from  so  high  an  authority,  cre- 
ated great  excitement  among  English  Conservatives,  drew  a 
wide  range  of  comment  from  the  newspapers  of  the  world, 
and  seemed  to  presage  a new  departure  in  the  applied  eco- 
nomics of  the  realm. 

Its  points,  bearing  on  external  trade,  were : — 

“ After  all,  this  little  island  lives  as  a trading  island.  We 
could  not  produce  in  foodstuffs  enough  to  sustain  the  popu- 
lation that  lives  in  this  island,  and  it  is  only  by  the  great 
industries  which  exist  here,  and  which  find  markets  in  for- 
eign countries,  that  we  are  able  to  maintain  the  vast  popula- 
tion by  which  this  island  is  inhabited. 

“ But  a danger  is  growing  up.  Forty  or  fifty  years  ago 
everybody  believed  that  free-trade  had  conquered  the  world, 
and  they  prophesied  that  every  nation  would  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  England  and  give  itself  up  to  absolute  free-trade. 

“ The  results  are  not  exactly  what  they  prophesied,  but 
the  more  adverse  the  results  were,  the  more  the  devoted 
prophets  of  free-trade  declared  that  all  would  come  aright  at 
last. 

“ The  worse  the  tariffs  of  foreign  countries  became  the 
more  confident  were  the  prophecies  of  an  early  victory,  but 
we  see  now,  after  many  years  experience  that  explain  it, 


® III  . y 


Hon.  James  K.  Jones. 

Born  in  Marshall  co.,  Miss.,  Sept.  29,  1839;  educated  in  classics  and 
law;  served  in  Confederate  army;  a planter  till  1873;  began  law  prac- 
tice at  Washington,  Arkansas,  and  elected  to  State  Senate  in  1873 ; re- 
elected in  1877,  and  became  President  of  the  body ; elected,  as  Democr.it, 
to  47th,  48th  and  49th  Congresses;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  in  1884;  re- 
elected in  1890 ; term  expires  March  3,  1897 ; member  of  Committees 
on  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  Indian  Affairs,  Interstate  Commerce, 
Irrigation  and  Territories. 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


191 

how  many  foreign  nations  are  raising,  one  after  another,  a 
wall — a brazen  wall  of  protection — around  their  shores 
which  excludes  us  from  their  markets,  and,  so  far  as  they 
are  concerned,  do  their  best  to  kill  our  trade,  and  this  state 
of  things  does  not  get  better.  On  the  contrary,  it  con- 
stantly seems  to  get  worse. 

“ Now,  of  course,  if  I utter  a word  with  reference  to  free- 
trade,  I shall  be  accused  of  being  a protectionist,  of  a desire 
to  overthrow  free-trade,  and  all  the  other  crimes  which  an 
ingenious  imagination  can  attach  to  a commercial  hetero- 
doxy. 

“ But,  nevertheless,  I ask  you  to  set  yourselves  free  from 
all  that  merely  vituperative  doctrine  and  to  consider  whether 
the  true  doctrine  of  free-trade  carries  you  as  far  as  some  of 
these  gentlemen  would  wish  you  to  go. 

“ Every  true  religion  has  its  counterpart  in  inventions  and 
legends  and  traditions,  which  grow  upon  that  religion.  The 
Old  Testament  had  its  Canonical  books  and  had  also  its 
Talmud  and  its  Mishna,  the  inventions  of  rabbinical  com- 
mentators. 

“ There  are  a Mishna  and  a Talmud  constantly  growing 
up.  One  of  the  difficulties  we  have  to  contend  with  is  the 
strange  and  unreasonable  doctrine  which  these  rabbis  have 
imposed  upon  us. 

“ If  we  look  abroad  into  the  world  we  will  see  it.  In  the 
office  which  I have  the  honor  to  hold  I am  obliged  to  see  a 
great  deal  of  it. 

“ We  live  in  an  age  of  a war  of  tariffs.  Every  nation  is 
trying  how  it  can,  by  agreement  with  its  neighbor,  get  the 
greatest  possible  protection  for  its  own  industries,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  greatest  possible  access  to  the  markets  of  its 
neighbors. 

“ This  kind  of  negotiation  is  continually  going  on.  It 

9 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


19c 

has  been  going  on  for  the  last  year  and  a half  with  great 
activity. 

“ I want  to  point  out  to  you  that  what  I observe  is  that 
while  A is  very  anxious  to  get  a favor  of  B,  and  B is  anx- 
ious to  get  a favor  of  C,  nobody  cares  two  straws  about  get- 
ting the  commercial  favor  of  Great  Britain. 

“ What  is  the  reason  of  that  ? It  is  that  in  this  great 
battle  Great  Britain  has  deliberately  stripped  herself  of  the 
armor  and  the  weapons  by  which  the  battle  has  to  be 
fought. 

“ You  cannot  do  business  in  this  world  of  evil  and  suffer- 
ing on  those  terms.  If  you  go  to  market,  you  must  bring 
money  with  you.  If  you  fight,  you  must  fight  with  the 
weapons  with  which  those  you  have  to  contend  against  are 
fighting. 

“ The  weapon  with  which  they  all  fight  is  admission  to 
their  own  markets,  that  is  to  say,  A says  to  B : ‘If  you  will 
make  your  duties  such  that  I can  sell  in  your  market  I will 
make  my  duties  such  that  you  can  sell  in  my  market.’ 

“ But  we  begin  by  saying  that  wre  will  levy  no  duties  on 
anybody,  and  we  declare  that  it  would  be  contrary  and  dis- 
loyal to  the  glorious  and  sacred  doctrine  of  free-trade  to 
levy  any  duty  on  anybody,  for  the  sake  of  what  we  can  get 
by  it. 

“ It  may  be  noble,  but  it  is  not  business. 

“ On  those  terms  you  will  get  nothing,  and  I am  sorry  to 
have  to  tell  you  that  you  are  practically  getting  nothing. 

“ The  opinion  of  this  country,  as  stated  by  its  authorized 
exponents,  has  been  opposed  by  what  is  called  a retaliatory 
policy. 

“ We,  as  the  government  of  the  country,  have  laid  it 
down  for  ourselves  as  a strict  rule  from  which  there  is  no 
departure,  and  we  are  bound  not  to  ,alte,r  the  traditional 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


193 


policy  of  the  country  unless  we  are  convinced  that  a large 
majority  of  the  country  is  with  us,  because  in  these  foreign 
affairs  consistency  of  policy  is  beyond  all  things  unnecessary. 

“ But,  though  that  is  the  case,  still  if  I may  aspire  to  fill 
the  office  of  a councillor  to  the  public  mind,  I should  ask 
you  to  form  your  own  opinions  without  a reference  to  tradi- 
tions or  denunciations,  not  to  care  two  straws  whether  you 
are  orthodox  or  not,  but  to  form  your  opinions  according  to 
the  dictates  of  common  sense — I would  impress  upon  you 
that  if  you  intend  in  this  conflict  of  commercial  treaties  to 
hold  your  own  you  must  be  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  inflict 
upon  the  nations  which  injure  you  the  penalty  which  is  in 
your  hands,  that  of  refusing  them  access  to  your  markets. 

“ The  power  we  have  most  reason  to  complain  of  is  the 
United  States,  and  what  we  want  the  United  States  to  fur- 
nish us  with  mostly  are  articles  of  food  essential  to  the  feed- 
ing of  the  people  and  raw  materials  necessary  to  our  manu- 
facturers, and  we  cannot  exclude  one  or  the  other  without 
serious  injury  to  ourselves. 

“ Now,  I am  not  in  the  least  prepared,  for  the  sake  of 
wounding  other  nations,  to  inflict  any  dangerous  or  serious 
wound  upon  ourselves. 

“ We  must  confine  ourselves,  at  least  for  the  present,  to 
those  subjects  on  which  we  should  not  suffer  very  much, 
whether  the  importation  continued  or  diminished. 

“ But  what  I complain  about  of  the  rabbis  of  whom  I have 
just  spoken  is,  that  they  confuse  this  vital  point.  They  say 
that  everything  must  be  given  to  the  consumer.  Well,  if  the 
consumer  is  the  man  who  maintains  the  industries  of  the 
country  or  is  the  people  at  large,  I agree  with  the  rabbis. 

“ You  cannot  raise  the  price  of  food  or  of  raw  material,  but 
there  is  an  enormous  mass  of  other  articles  of  importation 
from  other  countries  besides  the  United  States  which  are 


194 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


mere  matters  of  luxurious  consumption,  and  if  it  is  a ques- 
tion of  wine  or  silk  or  spirits  or  gloves  or  lace,  I should  not 
in  the  least  shrink  from  diminishing  the  consumption  and 
interfering  with  the  comfort  of  the  excellent  people  who  con- 
sume these  articles  of  luxury,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
our  rights  in  this  commercial  war,  and  of  insisting  on  our 
right  of  access  to  the  markets  of  our  neighbors. 

“ This  is  very  heterodox  doctrine,  I know,  and  I should 
be  excommunicated  for  maintaining  it. 

“ But,  as  one’s  whole  duty  is  to  say  what  he  thinks  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  I am  bound  to  say  that  our  rabbis 
have  carried  the  matter  too  far. 

“We  must  distinguish  between  consumer  and  consumer, 
and  while  jealously  preserving  the  rights  of  a consumer  who 
is  co-extensive  with  a whole  industry,  or  with  the  whole 
people  of  the  country,  we  may  fairly  use  our  power  over  an 
importation  which  merely  ministers  to  luxury  in  order  to 
maintain  our  own  in  this  great  commercial  battle.’’ 

AMERICAN  IRON  AND  TIN-PLATE  FIGURES. 

MANUFACTURES  OF  IRON. 

Imports  and  exports  for  first  eight  months  of  the  three 
latest  fiscal  years : 


Year.  Imports.  Exports. 

1889- 90 #26,966,085  $16,735,594 

1890- 91 29,820,502  18,823,384 

1891- 92 , 16,329,207  20,463,764 


For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  country  the  exports 
of  iron  manufactures  exceeded  the  imports  in  1891-92,  and 
America  practically  cut  loose  from  foreign  invention  in  iron 
and  steel. 


in/:  ..If 


Hon.  John  E.  Kenna. 

Born  at  Valcoulou,  Va.,  April  10, 1848  ; served  in  Confederate  army; 
educated  at  St.  Vincent’s  College  ; admitted  to  Charleston  bar,  June  20, 
1870;  acquired  lucrative  practice;  elected  District  Attorney,  1872; 
elected,  1875,  by  bar  to  hold  Circuit  Courts  of  Lincoln  and  Wayne 
counties;  elected,  as  Democrat,  to  45th,  46th  and  47th  Congresses; 
elected,  as  Democrat,  to  United  States  Senate  for  term  beginning  1883, 
and  re-elected  for  term  beginning  1889;  member  of  Committees  on 
Commerce,  Foreign  Relations,  Organization  of  Executive  Department 
and  Quadro-Centennial. 


(196) 


OUR  TARIFF  LEGISLATION. 


197 


TIN-PLATE  FIGURES. 

From  quarterly  returns  made  to  Treasury  Department: 

Duty  on  tin-plate  prior  to  July  1,  1891 1 cent  per  lb. 

Duty  after  July  1,  1891,  McKinley  Act 2.2  cents  per  lb. 

Manufactories  in  United  States  July  1,  1891 None. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department  as  having 

started  during  quarter  ending  September  3,  1891 5 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 27,000,000  lbs. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department  for  quarter 

ending  December  31,  1891 11 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 60,000,000  lbs. 

Manufactories  reported  to  Treasury  Department  for  quarter 

ending  March  31,  1892 19 

Yearly  capacity  equal  to 300,000,000  lbs. 

Actual  production  for  above  quarter 3,000,000  lbs. 

Amount  of  capital  invested  March  31,  1892 $3,000,000 

Tin-plate  imported,  1890 680,060,925  lbs. 

Value  of  same $20,928,150 

Cost  of  a box  of  tin-plate  (108  lbs.)  in  Liverpool,  January  1, 

1891  $4.23 

Additional  duty  on  same  after  July  1,  1891 1.29 

Cost  of  box  of  tin-plate  in  Liverpool  (108  lbs.)  April  1,  1892.  3.02 
Importation  of  tin-plate  for  8 months  ending  Feb.  28,  1891.  .525,904,757  lbs. 
Importation  of  tin-plate  for  8 months  ending  Feb.  29,  1892.  .177,114,874  lbs. 


HISTORIC  REVIEW  OF  THE  SILVER  QUES- 
TION. 


The  use  of  metal  as  a medium  of  exchange  and  a measure 
of  value  has  an  old  and  interesting  history.  The  province 
of  money  has  ever  been  a conspicuous  theme  in  political 
economy.  Lately  in  our  country  all  discussion  of  money 
has  been  given  a new  turn,  and  been  rendered  momentous 
and  exciting  by  the  fact  that  political  parties  have  chosen  to 
divide  upon  questions  of  coinage,  quantities,  kinds  and  values 
of  our  metallic  circulating  medium,  and  seek  to  make  them 
issues  in  their  campaigns. 

This  has  given  to  what  is  popularly  known  as  “ The  Sil- 
ver Question,”  or  “ The  Free  Coinage  Question,”  a promi- 
nence it  never  had  before.  It  is  within  the  bounds  of  truth 
to  say  that  the  “ Silver  Question  ” quite  overshadows  the 
“Tariff  Question”  in  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  and  bids 
fair  to  divide  honors  with  that  question  for  a considerable 
time.  Next  to,  and  perhaps  equal  with,  the  doctrines  of 
Free-Trade  and  Protection,  it  concerns  the  business  inter- 
ests, the  life  and  work,  the  labor  and  property,  of  every  man 
in  the  country,  from  the  humblest  toiler  to  the  largest  capi- 
talist. No  man  who  works  for  daily  bread,  no  man  who 
has  a dollar  saved,  no  man  who  has  a house  or  farm,  no 
man  who  has  his  capital  in  factories,  stocks,  mortgages,  or 
other  securities,  ought  to  be  ignorant  of  a question  which 
so  intimately  concerns  his  welfare.  It  is,  perhaps,  a matter 
of  regret  that  a question  so  purely  economic  should  fall  into 
political  channels,  but  such  is  the  fate  of  all  these  great 
questions  under  our  free  system  of  government,  and  our 
198 


THE  SiLVEk  QUESTION. 


people  are  seemingly  better  satisfied  with  results  obtained  in 
their  own  popular  way,  than  through  the  media  of  learned 
theories  and  abstruse  teachings.  In  as  much  they  prefer  to 
use  their  own  judgments  and  to  abide  by  their  own  verdicts, 
the  obligation  is  imposed  on  them  of  informing  themselves 
as  far  as  possible  respecting  the  merits  of  this  question,  and 
all  questions  that  similarly  affect  them. 

WHAT  IS  MONEY? 

Says  Laveleye : “ Money  is  the  substance  or  substances 
which  custom  or  the  law  causes  to  be  employed  as  the 
means  of  payment,  the  instrument  of  exchange  and  the  com- 
mon measure  of  values.” 

The  difficulty  of  bartering  wares  against  wares  brought 
into  use  an  intermediate  means  of  effecting  the  exchange. 
This  means  was  money,  which  became  an  agent  of  circula- 
tion and  a vehicle  of  exchange — the  cart  for  transferring 
property  in  an  object  from  one  person  to  another,  just  as  the 
actual  cart  transferred  the  object  itself. 

Again,  money  came  to  be  the  universal  equivalent. 
When  one  sells  a bushel  of  wheat  for  a dollar,  the  dollar  is 
the  equivalent  of  the  wheat.  One  can,  in  turn,  make  the 
dollar  the  equivalent  of  other  goods,  which  he  needs  more 
than  the  wheat  or  the  dollar.  Says  Adam  Smith  : “A  piece 
of  gold  may  be  considered  as  an  agreement  for  a certain 
quantity  of  goods  payable  by  the  tradesmen  of  the  neigh- 
borhood.” 

Still  further,  money  is  a common  measure  or  standard  of 
values.  Some  one  has  called  it  “ The  yardstick  of  com- 
merce.” Length,  weight,  value,  need  to  be  compared  with 
something,  in  order  to  subdivide  them  and  turn  their  parts 
to  use.  Hence,  a foot  is  made  a standard  of  long  measure, 
and  when  we  say  a stick  is  twelve  feet  long,  we  know  ex- 


200 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


actly  how  long  it  is,  and  all  men  will  know.  This  is  much 
more  definite  and  satisfactory  than  to  say,  the  stick  is  as  long 
as  twenty  hand-breadths,  for  some  hands  are  larger  than 
others,  and  the  stick  would  be  longer  or  shorter,  according 
to  each  measurer.  So,  if  we  say  a barrel  of  flour  weighs  as 
much  as  two  pigs,  we  get  but  a vague  and  varying  idea  of 
its  weight,  for  pigs  differ  in  size  and  weight.  But  when  we 
set  up  the  pound  as  a standard  of  weight,  and  say  that  a 
barrel  of  flour  weighs  196  pounds,  all  men  will  have  a com- 
mon idea  of  its  weight.  It  is  the  same  with  value.  The 
value  of  a horse  may  be  equal  to  five  cows,  but  as  cows  have 
one  price  to-day  and  another  to-morrow,  you  have  selected 
a very  uncertain  means  of  finding  the  value  of  a horse.  By 
the  use  of  money  as  a common  valuer,  as  in  the  foot  or  the 
pound,  you  get  a definite  idea  of  the  value  of  a horse. 
When  you  say  it  is  worth  one  hundred  dollars,  or  a hundred 
times  one  dollar — the  dollar  being  the  standard  or  measurer 
of  value — all  men  fall  to  the  idea,  know  what  a horse  is 
worth. 

The  foot  standard  is  exactly  ascertained  and  rigidly  fixed. 
The  pound  standard  is  also  accurately  ascertained  and  rig- 
idly fixed.  In  attempting  to  fix  a standard  for  measuring 
values,  great  difficulty  is  encountered,  for,  unfortunately,  the 
substances  used  for  measuring  the  values  of  articles  of  com- 
merce are  themselves  merchandise,  and  subject  to  variation 
in  value  like  all  goods.  The  best  that  can  be  done,  there- 
fore, as  to  values,  is  to  select  as  true  and  invariable  a standard 
of  measurement  as  possible,  to  watch  it  closely,  and  to  cor- 
rect from  time  to  time  the  expansions  and  contractions  oc- 
casioned by  commercial  heat  and  cold. 

KINDS  OF  MONEY. 

The  Siberians  used  furs  as  money.  The  Spartans  used 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


201 


iron.  The  African  uses  cloth,  salt  and  cowrie-shells.  Cat- 
tle held  the  largest  place  as  money  among  the  ancients  and 
many  of  our  financial  and  commercial  words  are  derived 
from  old  words  indicating  the  early  prominence  of  the  flock 
and  herd.  The  arms  of  Diomede  were  valued  at  nine  oxen  ; 
those  of  Glaucus  at  one  hundred  oxen.  The  Franks  levied 
a tribute  of  oxen  on  the  conquered  Saxons.  Our  word 
“ pecuniary  ” is  the  Latin  pecus , “ cattle.”  Our  “ fee  ” is  the 
Saxon  feoh,  cattle. 

Metal  money  was  first  employed  as  representing  value  in 
cattle.  The  ox  or  sheep  became  its  emblem  and  was 
stamped  on  the  metal. 

As  civilization  progressed  and  exchanges  became  more 
frequent,  gold  and  silver  took  the  place  of  all  cruder  metals 
and  devices,  as  money. 

This  was  because  time  and  experience  had  proved  their 
superiority  as  measurers  of  value  and  media  of  exchange. 

They  do  not  deteriorate  by  keeping. 

Their  production  is  limited  by  scarcity  of  their  ores.  This 
gives  great  value  in  proportion  to  weight,  and  facilitates 
handling,  transport  and  hoarding. 

The  annual  losses  of  the  precious  metals  by  wear  and  tear 
and  by  absorption  in  the  arts  have  so  nearly  equalled  the 
annual  production,  as  that  the  excess  of  production  has  sel- 
dom exceeded  the  ratio  of  increase  in  population  and  the 
growing  demand  for  money.  Thus  the  demand  and  supply 
being  nearly  equal,  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  remains  very 
stable,  as  compared  with  other  metals,  or  other  measures  of 
value. 

The  accumulated  stock  of  the  precious  metals,  estimated 
in  money  and  ornaments  at  $10,000,000,000  in  the  world, 
tends  to  lessen  variations  in  value  that  might  be  occasioned 
by  diminution  or  failure  of  the  annual  supply. 


202 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


All  civilized  nations  seek  and  accept  gold  and  silver  as  a 
means  of  facilitating  exchange. 

Gold  and  silver  are  easily  divisible  into  parts  and  propor- 
tions of  given  weights  and  values. 

They  receive  with  ease  and  permanently  the  impression 
which  distinguishes  their  weight,  size,  design  and  value. 

They  are  readily  distinguishable  from  other  metals ; gold 
by  its  weight,  silver  by  its  sound. 

THE  VALUE  OF  MONEY. 

The  purchasing  power  of  money  ascertains  its  value.  The 
pure  silver  which  would  have-bought  eight  bushels  of  wheat 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  would  bring  only  two  bushels, 
after  the  discovery  of  America.  Therefore,  it  was  said  of 
silver,  that  it  had  declined  to  one-fourth  of  its  previous 
value. 

Supply  of  an  article  usually  affects  its  value,  but  a supply 
of  money  involves  the  quantity  in  existence  and  the  rapidity 
of  its  circulation.  A dollar  that  makes  three  exchanges  a 
day  is  worth  three  dollars  that  make  one  exchange  a day. 

If  the  demand  for  money  is  less  than  the  supply,  its  value 
decreases ; only  we  don’t  say  so,  but  that  prices  rise.  If  the 
demand  for  money  is  greater  than  the  supply,  its  value  in- 
creases ; but  we  say,  that  prices  fall. 

Alterations  in  the  value  of  money  lead  to  confusion  in 
commercial,  legal  and  economic  relations.  A decrease  in 
the  amount  or  value  of  money  seriously  affects  the  debtor 
classes.  An  increase  in  the  amount  or  value  of  money  in- 
jures the  creditor  classes. 

MONEY  SYSTEMS. 

The  gold  and  silver  that  enter  into  money  are  not  pure, 
but  mixed  with  alloy,  usually  copper,  to  save  the  coins  from 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


203 


wearing.  The  quantity  of  alloy  generally  introduced  is 
about  one-tenth,  that  is,  one  part  alloy  to  nine  parts  of  pure 
metal. 

In  England,  the  unit  of  money,  gold  or  silver,  of  which 
the  other  coins  are  multiples,  is  the  sovereign  or  pound  ; in 
France,  the  franc;  in  Germany,  the  mark;  in  Holland,  the 
florin ; in  the  United  States,  the  dollar.  The  larger  coins 
are  generally  made  a legal  tender  for  debts,  without  limit. 
Smaller  fractional  or  subsidiary  coins  are  generally  made  a 
legal  tender  for  debts,  with  a limit  as  to  amount.  Still  smaller 
coins,  cents,  nickels,  and  such  as  rank  as  “ token  money,” 
are  made  legal  tender  for  debts  of  a still  smaller  amount. 

Formerly,  monarchs,  cities,  bishops  and  nobles  claimed 
the  right  to  coin  money,  and  they  frequently  abused  their 
right  by  diminishing  the  value  of  the  currency,  either  by  re- 
ducing the  quantity  of  pure  metal  in  the  coins,  or  by  declar- 
ing them  to  have  a legal  value  far  beyond  their  intrinsic 
value.  Solon  decreed  that  the  mina  should  be  worth  a hun- 
dred drachmas  instead  of  seventy-three.  Plutarch  says  of 
this  decree:  “In  this  way,  by  paying  apparently  the  full 
value,  though  really  less,  those  who  owed  large  sums  gained 
considerably,  without  causing  any  loss  to  their  creditors.” 
Says  Laveleye,  “ Plutarch  here  expresses  the  error  which  has 
inspired  all  issues  of  depreciated  and  paper  currency.  No 
one  seems  to  lose,  because  payments  are  made  just  as  well 
with  coins  reduced  in  value  as  with  the  unreduced.  What 
is  forgotten  is  that  prices  rise  in  proportion  as  the  unit  of 
money  loses  its  value.” 

At  the  present  time  the  right  of  coinage  is,  as  a rule,  re- 
served by  the  sovereign  State,  and  is  jealously  guarded.  In 
most  countries  the  coining  of  the  standard  coin  is  free. 

In  France,  Italy,  Switzerland  and  Belgium,  which  coun- 
tries agreed,  in  1863,  to  form  the  Latin  Monetary  Union, 


204 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


all  gold  coins  and  five-franc  pieces  are  accepted  as  standard. 
The  minor  silver  coins  are  a legal  tender  for  only  small 
debts,  and  the  mints  cannot  issue  them  to  a greater  extent 
than  the  value  of  six  francs  for  each  inhabitant.  The  sys- 
tem of  the  Latin  Union  is  the  double  standard  or  bi-metallic 
system ; that  is,  it  permits  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage 
of  both  gold  and  silver  pieces,  to  each  of  which  it  gives  legal 
currency,  or  the  right  to  be  accepted  in  all  payments.  It 
has,  however,  been  compelled  to  modify  this  system  to  suit 
circumstances. 

Countries  whose  system  is  “ single  standard  or  mono-me- 
tallic,” as  in  England,  where  it  is  gold,  and  in  Austria, 
where  it  is  silver,  accord  free  and  unlimited  coinage  and 
legal-tender  quality  only  to  the  metal  they  fix  as  the  stand- 
ard. The  mono-metallic  system  is  the  simpler,  as  to  relation 
of  value  between  coins  of  different  denominations ; but  as 
to  relation  of  value  between  money  and  goods,  the  bi-metal- 
lic system  is  more  sensitive  and,  consequently,  exact. 

In  1558  Thomas  Gresham,  one  of  the  councillors  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  demonstrated  that  the  money  which  has 
the  less  value  will  drive  from  circulation  the  money  which 
has  the  greater  value.  This  is  known  in  monetary  science 
as  “ Gresham’s  Law.” 

In  1717  Sir  Isaac  Newton  showed  that  a means  of  obvi- 
ating the  ill  effects  of  “ Gresham’s  Law  ” existed,  by  fixing 
the  relation  of  value  between  gold  and  silver  the  same  in 
all  countries.  In  later  times  attempts  have  been  made  to 
do  this  by  means  of  International  Monetary  Congresses. 
Attempts  to  establish  a fixed  relation  of  value  between  gold 
and  silver  by  single  countries  have  not  proved  satisfactory. 
Economists  are  by  no  means  agreed  as  to  which  metal,  gold 
or  silver,  is  preferable  as  a standard.  That  the  largest 
number  of  countries,  certainly  the  largest  commercial  coun- 


Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln. 

Born  in  Springfield,  111.,  August  1,  1843;  prepared  for  college  at 
Exeter;  entered  Harvard,  1864;  entered  Harvard  Law  School,  but* 
became  aide,  with  rank  of  Captain,  on  General  Grant’s  staff;  served  till 
end  of  war ; admitted  to  bar  and  practiced  in  Chicago  till  1881 ; entered 
Garfield’s  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  1881 ; retained  same  under 
Arthur;  prominently  mentioned  for  the  Presidency  before  National 
Republican  Convention  in  1884;  but  refused  the  use  of  his  name  so  long 
as  President  Arthur  was  in  the  field ; resumed  practice  of  profession, 
1885;  again  mentioned  for  Presidency  in  1888;  selected  as  Minister  to 
England  by  President  Harrison. 


(205) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


207 


tries,  adopt  gold  as  the  standard  metal,  implies  some  pow- 
erful reason  for  it ; but  it  by  no  means  disproves  the  theory 
that  gold  itself  shifts  in  value  like  silver  and  probably  quite 
as  much.  Indeed,  not  a few  aver  that  much  of  what  ap- 
pears to  be  a shift  in  the  value  of  silver  is  really  a shift  in 
the  value  of  gold,  with  which  the  silver  is  compared.  They 
also  say  that  in  the  very  nature  of  things  silver  is  a metal 
of  more  stable  value  than  gold,  because  its  production  comes 
from  deep  mines,  with  costly  machinery,  and  an  annual  out- 
put which  cannot  be  increased  except  at  great  expense,  nor 
lessened  without  great  loss ; whereas  the  product  of  gold, 
most  of  which  comes  from  auriferous  sands,  may  increase 
or  diminish  very  greatly  in  a short  space  of  time. 

BEGINNING  OF  AMERICAN  COINAGE. 

Immediately  after  the  peace  of  1783,  and  while  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  constituted  our  only  bonds  of 
government,  some  of  the  prominent  patriots,  notably  Morris, 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  began  agitation  looking  to  the 
establishment  of  an  American  Mint.  Naturally  the  char- 
acter of  the  proposed  mintage  came  under  discussion.  This 
was  the  “ Coinage  Question  ” of  that  day.  It  was  neither 
political  nor  bitter  as  at  present,  but  it  was  none  the  less 
earnest,  and  involved  many  of  the  points  now  under  dis- 
cussion. 

Great  respect  was  paid  to  the  views  of  Morris,  who,  as 
Superintendent  of  Finance;  was  well  qualified  to  speak  upon 
the  character  of  the  mintage.  He  reached  the  conclusion 
that  in  as  much  as  the  relative  values  of  gold  and  silver 
were  continually  changing,  there  could  be  no  ratio  estab- 
lished between  them  which  would  prove  stable  and  satis- 
factory for  purposes  of  law.  Therefore,  the  only  way  out 
of  the  difficulty,  as  he  reasoned,  was  for  the  government  to 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


208 

adopt  silver  alone  as  its  metallic  money,  and  proceed  to  coin 
it.  He  was  a silver  mono-metallist. 

On  account  of  Hamilton’s  mastery  of  finance,  his  views 
were  equally  courted.  During  the  discussions  of  the  sub- 
ject, which  preceded  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in 
1787,  Hamilton  made  it  plain  that  he  was  a mono-metallist 
like  Morris,  but  recognizing  the  greater  value  of  gold,  its 
higher  place  among  commercial  nations  and  its  lesser  lia- 
bility to  sudden  and  extreme  fluctuation  in  price,  he  pre- 
ferred it  to  silver  as  the  metallic  standard.  Pending  these 
discussions  the  Confederation  came  to  an  end,  and  the  new 
Constitution  appeared  (1787)  with  its  provisions  as  to  money 
and  coinage  : — The  Congress  shall  have  power  “ to  coin 
money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  fix  the  standard  of 
weights  and  measures.”  Art.  I. ; Sec.  8.  Again,  “ No 
State  shall  coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  make  anything 
but  gold  and  silver  coin  a tender  in  payment  of  debts.” 
Art.  I. ; Sec.  10. 

Here  then  was  recognition  of  two  metals  as  money,  and 
provision  for  a bi-metallic  currency,  should  such  a result  be 
deemed  wise.  The  matter  of  establishing  a mint  came  up 
as  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  under  the  new 
Constitution.  Hamilton  made  it  the  subject  of  a full  and 
able  report  to  Congress  in  1791.  In  this  report  he  adhered 
to  his  views  that,  in  the  abstract,  a mono-metallic  standard 
would  be  best,  but  that  such  standard  should  be  gold  in 
preference  to  silver.  However,  reasoning  on  the  line  of 
expediency,  he  feared  that  the  adoption  of  a single  standard 
would  tend  to  limit  the  amount  of  the  circulating  medium, 
a result  by  no  means  desirable,  in  the  infant  and  experi- 
mental stage  of  the  Government.  Therefore,  he  concluded 
that  a double  standard  would  be  best  in  practice,  and  as  a 
policy  sufficiently  permanent  to  warrant  the  forms  of  law. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


209 


His  reasons  and  conclusions  proved  to  be  acceptable  to 
the  Congress,  but  there  was  great  diversity  of  opinion 
respecting  the  question  of  the  relative  value  of  the  two 
metals.  What  should  be  the  fixed  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver  ? In  fixing  such  ratio,  should  the  price,  or  purchas- 
ing power,  of  gold  at  home  or  abroad  be  taken  ? It  was 
finally  agreed  that  American  values  were  alone  to  be  con- 
sidered, and  that  the  commercial  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver  should  be  as  one  is  to  fifteen.  One  ounce  of  gold 
was  to  be  taken  as  worth  fifteen  times  as  much  as  one  ounce 
of  silver. 

OUR  FIRST  COINAGE  ACT. 

The  first  Act  of  Congress  relating  to  coinage  was  passed 
April  2,  1792,  and  was  entitled  “An  Act  establishing  a mint 
and  regulating  the  coins  of  the  United  States.”  This  Act 
provided  for  the  coinage  of  eagles,  half-eagles  and  quarter- 
eagles  of  gold,  and  for  “ dollars  or  units,”  half-dollars  and 
quarter-dollars,  dimes  and  half-dimes  of  silver.  The  coin- 
age of  cents  and  half-cents  of  copper  was  also  provided 
for.  The  value  of  each  eagle  was  fixed  as  “ ten  dollars  or 
units,  and  to  contain  247  grains  and  four-eighths  of  a grain 
of  pure  or  270  grains  of  standard  gold.”  The  half  and 
quarter-eagles  bore  respectively  an  exact  proportion  to  the 
eagle  in  value,  weight  and  fineness. 

The  dollar,  or  unit,  was  thus  provided  for  : — “ Dollars  or 
units — each  to  be  of  the  value  of  a Spanish  milled  dollar,  as 
the  same  is  now  current,  and  to  contain  371  grains  and 
four-sixteenths  of  a grain  of  pure,  or  416  grains  of  standard 
silver.”  The  fractional  silver  coins  contained  exactly  one- 
half,  one-fourth  and  one-tenth,  respectively,  of  the  quantity 
of  fine  silver  and  alloy  prescribed  for  the  dollar.  The  ideal 
unit  for  years  prior  and  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of 
the  Mint  was  the  pound  sterling,  yet  the  Spanish  dollar, 


210 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


during  that  early  period,  was  the  money  of  commerce  and 
the  practical  monetary  unit,  and  it  was  the  general  custom 
to  express  in  contracts  that  payment  should  be  made  in 
Spanish  milled  dollars.  The  advocates  of  silver  attach 
great  importance  to  the  expression,  “ dollars  or  units,”  and 
to  the  fact  that  the  established  unit  was  the  silver  dollar. 
Upon  this  is  based  their  claim  that  the  silver  dollar  is  the 
unit  of  our  monetary  system,  and  that  the  gold  coinage  is 
based  upon  that  unit.  Each  eagle  is  “ to  be  of  the  value  of 
*10  or  units,”  and  it  is  declared  that  the  dollar  or  unit  shall 
be  of  silver. 

This  Act  provided  for  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
both  gold  and  silver,  and  that  both  coins  should  be  a legal 
tender.  Thus  Section  14  reads: 

“ It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons  to  bring  to 
the  said  Mint  gold  and  silver  bullion  in  order  to  their  being 
coined,  and  that  the  bullion  so  brought  shall  be  assayed  and 
coined  free  of  expense  to  the  person  or  persons  by  whom 
the  same  shall  have  been  brought.” 

Free  coinage  in  this  sense  does  not  mean  that  the  mint 
did  its  work  for  nothing.  It  charged  one-half  per  cent,  to 
indemnify  it  for  the  time  expended  in  assaying  and  coining 
the  bullion. 

Section  16  of  the  Act  contained  the  legal  tender  clause, 
making  the  coins  of  both  metals,  even  including  the  frac- 
tional silver  coins,  a legal  tender. 

A gold  dollar,  or  rather  a dollar  in  gold,  at  the  ratio 
fixed  in  the  above  Act,  would  contain  24.75  grains  of  gold. 
Multiply  this  by  15  (for  there  must  be  fifteen  times  as  much 
silver  in  a dollar)  and  you  have  371.25  grains,  as  the  quan- 
tity of  fine  silver  for  the  silver  dollar.  This  ratio  was  not 
quite  that  which  prevailed  at  the  time  in  Europe,  the  ratio 
there  being  about  15^  to  1.  Our  Coinage  Act,  therefore, 


Hon.  John  Lind. 


Born  at  Ulm,  Sweden,  March  25,  1854;  resided  in  Minnesota  since 
1868 ; educated  at  public  schools  ; studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  bar, 
1877  ; rose  to  prominence  in  his  profession  ; elected, “as  a Republican, 
to  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to  represent  Second  Minnesota  District, 
being  the  only  straight  Republican  elected  to  Congress  in  the  State  dur- 
ing the  elections  of  1890 ; an  industrious,  conscientious  and  popular 
member,  serving  on  Inter-State  and  Foreign  Commerce  Committee, 
Committee  on  Pacific  Railroads  and  Enrolled  Bills. 

(21 1) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


213 


put  too  low  a commercial  value  on  gold.  It  was  worth 
more  as  bullion  in  the  markets  of  the  world  than  in  the 
shape  of  one  of  our  coins.  There  was,  therefore,  little  or 
no  inducement  for  any  one  to  take  gold  bullion  or  gold 
plate  to  the  mint  to  get  it  coined  into  gold  money,  for  the 
utmost  they  could  get  for  it  would  be  coin  of  gold  equal  to 
fifteen  times  its  weight  in  silver.  In  Europe  the  same 
weight  of  gold  would  command  fifteen  and  a half  times  its 
weight  of  silver.  Not  only  was  there  no  inducement  to  sell 
gold  to  the  mint  for  purpose  of  coinage,  but  even  what  was 
coined  followed  to  a great  extent  the  law  of  a commercial 
commodity,  and  was  retired  as  something  more  worthy  to 
hold  than  the  cheaper  metal,  silver,  which  measured  its 
value  in  a popular  sense,  or  else  it  sought,  even  as  gold 
coin,  the  market  abroad,  where  one  part  of  gold  com- 
manded fifteen  and  a half  parts  of  silver. 

In  those  early  times  we  were  not  in  a position  as  a nation 
to  impress  a commercial  value  on  metals  used  as  coin.  The 
law  fixed  a ratio.  The  mint  impressed  the  law  on  the 
coins.  After  that  they  followed  largely  the  higher  and 
more  arbitrary  laws  of  commerce  and  of  nations.  They 
were  in  the  markets  of  the  world  and  subject  to  their  fluctua- 
tions. And  this  was  true,  even  though  we  had  great  need 
for  metallic  money,  as  all  new  countries  have  where  popu- 
lation is  sparse,  where  intercommunication  is  slow  and  ir- 
regular, and  where  credit  has  not  yet  learned  to  lend  its 
conveniences  to  trade. 

In  spite  of  the  ratio  of  15  to  1,  established  for  our  bi- 
metallic currency  by  the  Act  of  1 792,  the  foreign,  or  com- 
mercial, ratio  forced  itself  upon  us,  and  for  forty-two  years, 
that  is  from  1792  to  1834,  the  value  of  silver,  as  compared 
with  gold,  fluctuated,  often  rising  nearly  to  16  to  I,  but 
never  falling  to  15  to  I.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  silver  was 


10 


214 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


cheaper  than  gold,  and  silver  currency  than  gold  currency, 
which  fact,  as  those  who  oppose  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
aver,  proved  the  truth  of  Gresham’s  law,  mentioned  above, 
that  where  two  metals  are  made  a legal  tender  and  given 
free  coinage  at  a fixed  ratio  of  value,  the  cheaper  metal 
will  circulate  to  the  exclusion  of  the  dearer. 

To  illustrate : A yard  is  36  inches,  but  if  a merchant 
finds  that  if,  within  law,  he  can  satisfy  his  customers  with  a 
yard  of  35^  inches,  he  will  prefer  the  shorter  standard  of 
measure.  Sixteen  ounces  make  a pound  avoirdupois,  but 
if  he  can,  within  law,  satisfy  his  customers  with  fifteen 
ounces,  he  will  do  so.  An  ounce  of  gold  is  worth  in  the 
markets  15^  ounces  of  silver;  he  will  not  use  the  gold,  but 
the  legal  equivalent  of  the  gold,  or  the  ounces  of  sil- 

ver, namely,  the  15  ounces  which  he  finds  in  the  shape  of 
silver  coin,  and  a legal  tender. 

This  presumes  J:h at  the  ounce  of  gold  set  up  as  the 
standard  of  value  is  fixed,  like  the  yard,  as  a standard  of 
measure  and  the  pound  as  a standard  of  weight.  Commer- 
cial custom  and  monetary  science  incline  more  and  more  to 
this  presumption,  and  as  a fact  gold  is  made  to  so  largely 
measure  the  value  of  silver  as  well  as  all  other  commodi- 
ties, among  enlightened  nations,  as  that  it  performs  the 
functions  of  a yard  stick  as  to  lengths  or  a pound  weight  as 
to  weights. 

But  here  the  advocates  of  bi-metallism  and  free  coinage 
say  that  gold  is  not  in  itself  an  unchangeable  measure  of 
value,  as  the  yard  stick  is  of  length  and  the  pound  weight 
is  of  weight.  It  has  its  own  fluctuations  just  as  silver  has, 
though  perhaps  not  to  the  same  extent.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
a true  measure  of  value  for  silver.  The  Hon.  Marcus  A. 
Smith,  of  Arizona,  in  his  recent  speech  upon*  “ The  free 
Coinage  of  Silver,”  thus  treats  of  this  question  of  gold 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  215 

measurements  and  of  the  principle  underlying  “ Gresham’s 
Law : ” 

“ The  inflexible  and  unchangeable  value,  which  is  often 
attributed  to  gold  coin,  is  simply  the  arbitrary  value  of  a 
standard  only  measured  by  itself.  This  is  the  value  to 
which  the  quoted  words  plainly  apply.  Governments  can 
no  more  give  fixed  commodities,  or  comparative  value,  to 
gold  and  silver  than  they  can  arrest  the  motion  of  the  stars. 
David  Hume,  John  Locke,  Adam  Smith,  and  all  the  older 
economic  writers  agree  that  gold  and  silver  both  fluctuate 
in  value. 

“ Profs.  Jevons  and  Walker,  more  recent  authorities,  show 
by  comparative  tables  of  statistics  that  between  1789  and 
1809  gold  fell  46  per  cent. ; that  between  1809  and  1849  it 
arose  145  per  cent.,  and  that  within  twenty  years  after  the 
latter  date  it  fell  20  per  cent.  It  is  estimated  that  during 
the  past  eighteen  years  gold  has  again  risen  30  per  cent. 
Jevons  says  that — 

“ 4 In  respect  to  steadiness  of  values  the  metals  are  prob- 
ably less  satisfactory,  regarded  as  a standard  of  value,  than 
many  other  commodities,  such  as  corn.’ 

“ The  discovery  of  new  mines,  the  exhaustion  of  the  old 
mines,  the  arbitrary  adoption  of  the  metals  by  governments 
for  money  purposes  or  their  demonetization  and  disuse  for 
such  purposes,  and  the  greater  or  less  demand  for  them  for 
artistic  and  mechanical  uses,  are  accidents  and  circum- 
stances which  contribute  to  fluctuation  in  their  value.  Use- 
fulness or  utility  gives  desirability.  This  desirability  leads  to 
use,  and  whether  the  use  be  by  governments  or  individuals, 
or  both,  for  money  or  in  the  arts,  or  for  both,  it  creates  the 
demand  which,  in  connection  with  supply,  gives  exchange 
value. 

“ The  law,  custom,  or  usage,  that  rendered  the  fabled 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


*16 

nugget  of  copper  a proper  tender  by  the  mummy  as  a fee 
to  Charon,  gave  it  its  monetary  value  for  that  purpose.  It 
was  the  tribal  law,  custom,  or  usage  which  ordained  the  use 
of  silver  as  money,  that  gave  to  the  400  shekels  of  silver 
which  Abraham  tendered  to  Ephron  the  Hittite,  and  ‘ cur- 
rent money  with  the  merchants/  its  monetary  value;  it 
was  the  law,  custom,  or  usage  which  decreed  the  use  of 
silver  as  money,  that  gave  to  the  twenty  pieces  of  silver  for 
which  Joseph  was  sold  into  slavery,  and  the  thirty  pieces 
of  silver  for  which  the  gentle  Nazarene  was  betrayed  to  his 
death,  their  monetary  value. 

“In  each  instance,  even  on  the  principles  of  barter,  the 
use  of  silver,  for  other  purposes  than  money,  was  a factor, 
contributing  to  its  monetary  value,  and  not  by  itself  creating 
it.  Where  barter  is  applied  the  sum  total  of  usage  gives  to 
the  metals  what  is  termed  the  monetary  value,  but  what, 
more  properly  speaking,  is  only  commercial  value.  Crusoe, 
on  his  desert  isle,  sitting  among  his  sacks  of  gold,  is  the 
synonym  of  poverty  until  he  finds  the  grain  of  wheat  which 
gives  promise  of  food  and  life.  That  gold  had  no  commer- 
cial value.  The  grain  of  wheat  was  worth  immeasurably 
more  than  all  of  it.  But  let  civilized  governments,  or  even 
barbarous  tribes  find  it,  and  at  once  its  use  for  the  purposes 
of  money  makes  it  command  a thousand  times  its  weight  in 
wheat. 

“ So  far  from  the  value  of  given  articles  ‘ for  other  pur- 
poses ’ being  the  sole  cause  of  their  monetary  value,  the 
former  is  not  always  even  co-existent  with  and  equal  to  the 
latter.  Was  it  the  ‘ value  for  other  purposes  ’ of  the  iron 
in  the  coins  of  Sparta,  under  Lycurgus,  that  gave  to  those 
coins  their  monetary  value  ? Was  it  the  value  of  the 
leather  ‘ for  other  purposes  * that  gave  to  the  money  of  Car- 
thage its  monetary  value  ? Was  it  its  4 value  for  other  pur- 


Hon.  Calvin  S.  Brice. 


Born  at  Denmark,  Ohio,  September  17,1845;  educated  at  Miami 
University;  served  in  Union  army,  as  Captain  of  Company  E,  108th 
Regiment  Ohio  Volunteers;  studied  law  at  University  of  Michigan;  ad- 
milted  to  practice,  1866;  Presidential  elector,  on  Democratic  ticket, 
1870  and  1884 ; Delegate-at- Large  for  Ohio  to  St.  Louis  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention,  1888 ; member  of  Democratic  National  Campaign 
Committee,  and  Chairman  of  same  for  campaign  of  1888  and  since ; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate  as  Democrat,  January,  1890;  member 
of  Committees  on  Irrigation,  Pensions,  Post  Offices  and  Post  Roads, 
Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  and  Revolutionary  Claims. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


219 


poses  ’ that  gave  to  the  money  made  in  China  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  from  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree  its  mon- 
etary value  ? Was  it  its  ‘ value  for  other  purposes  * that 
gave  value  to  the  wampum  of  the  American  Indians  ? Was 
it  their  ‘ value  for  other  purposes  ’ that  gave  to  the  glass 
coin  of  Arabia,  the  brass  coins  of  Rome,  the  pasteboard 
bills  of  Holland,  the  tenpenny  nails  of  Scotland,  the  musket- 
balls  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  cocoa-beans  of  Mexico, 
their  monetary  value  ? 

“ Is  it  its  value  for  other  purposes  that  gives  to  the  $800,- 
<x>o,oooof  silver  coin  in  France  to-day  its  monetary  value  ? 
Is  it  its  value  for  other  purposes  that  gives  to  our  $400,- 
000,000  of  standard  silver  coin  and  the  millions  more  of 
subsidiary  and  minor  coin  their  monetary  value?  The 
commercial  value  of  the  silver  in  the  coin  of  France  is 
% 1 70, OOO, OCX)  less  than  its  monetary  value,  and  in  the  United 
States  nearly  $100,000,000  less.  How  obvious,  therefore, 
it  is  that  governments  not  only  by  the  use  of  the  metals  as 
money  add  to  their  commercial  value,  but  at  times  confer  a 
monetary  value  beyond  and  independent  of  the  commercial 
value  ? 

“ Much  is  said  about  one  kind  of  money  driving  another 
kind  out  of  circulation.  The  Gresham  Law  is  simply  a law 
of  displacement.  It  applies  to  all  articles  of  commerce  as 
well  as  to  money.  The  self-binder  displaces  the  sickle,  and 
the  railway  train  displaces  the  stage-coach.  But  the  theory 
that  the  scarcest  money  is  the  best  money  is  on  par  with 
the  idea  that  the  smallest  crop  is  the  best  crop.  Gold  and 
silver,  like  other  commodities,  go  where  the  highest  prices 
are  offered,  whether  the  offer  comes  from  individuals  or 
governments.  Monetary  value  is  national ; commercial 
value  is  cosmopolitan.  The  single-standard  metal,  whether 
it  be  gold  or  silver,  is  alternately  money  and  commodity 


220  THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

instrument  and  article  of  commerce.  Economic  law  is  in- 
exorable. 

“England  adopted  the  single-standard  in  1819,  and  Ger- 
many, the  Latin  Union,  and  minor  European  states,  at  a 
later  day.  Since  1819  the  Bank  of  England  has  suspended 
specie  payment  nearly  a dozen  times,  the  land-owners  of 
England  have  been  reduced  from  165,000  to  less  than 
30,000.  Her  #3,500,000,000  national  debt  is  as  large  as 
at  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  yet  bread  riots  have 
periodically  startled  her  cities  and  agitated  her  statesmen. 
But  two  years  ago,  when  heavy  drafts  were  made  on  her 
gold  by  Russia,  her  Barings  touched  the  borders  of  insol- 
vency, and,  in  spite  of  all  the  assistance  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  plunged  several  leading  New  York  banks  into 
ruin  and  carried  our  country  to  the  edge  of  panic  and  finan- 
cial disaster,  Goschen,  the  chancellor  of  the  British  Ex- 
chequer, announced  to  Parliament  that  the  perils  attending 
the  increasing  competition  for  gold  made  a consideration  of 
the  return  to  bi-metallism  advisable. 

“ The  rule  or  law  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  did  not  apply 
to  gold  and  silver.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  I think 
it  was,  the  coin  in  circulation  was  found  to  be  degraded  by 
clipping  and  general  short  weight.  It  was  found  that  as 
long  as  any  clipped  or  abraded  piece  of  silver  would  buy 
as  much  as  a full-weight  piece  of  silver,  the  heavy  piece 
was  kept  out  of  commerce  and  used  in  the  arts,  and  the 
spurious  piece  did  the  trade  of  the  realm.  The  light  dis- 
placed the  heavy  in  commerce,  or  had  such  tendency,  and 
this  is  all  that  the  Gresham  law  meant.” 

However  these  things  may  be  in  theory,  in  fact  our  early 
gold  coins,  being  worth  more,  when  compared  with  silver, 
than  the  value  which  was  stamped  upon  them,  began  to 
depart  either  from  circulation  or  from  the  country  entirely. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


221 


This  movement  began  almost  simultaneously  with  the  pas- 
sage of  our  first  Coinage  Act.  It  was  very  perceptible  by 
1810,  and  continued  until  1834.  In  all  that  time  there  were 
less  than  $12,000,000  in  gold  coined,  a large  per  cent,  of 
which  was  lost  entirely  to  the  country  by  export.  By  1814 
the  mintage  of  gold  coins  had  fallen  to  $77,000.  In  1815  it 
fell  to  $3,000.  In  1816  the  coinage  of  gold  amounted  to 
nothing.  After  1819  gold  disappeared  as  a circulating  me- 
dium in  the  United  States. 

During  this  time  (1792-1834)  there  were  only  1,439,417 
silver  dollars  coined,  and  none  of  these  were  coined  after 
1805.  The  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar  was  in  all  probabil- 
ity discouraged  by  the  fact  that  gold  was  seen  to  be  disap- 
pearing, and  with  the  hope  that  a scarcity  of  silver  dollars 
might  enhance  their  value.  Or,  their  coinage  may  have 
ceased  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  foreign  silver  coins  of 
that  denomination  were  ample  for  trade  purposes,  the  bulk 
of  our  metallic  currency  being  at  that  time  of  foreign  make. 
The  mint  was  not,  however,  idle.  It  was  busy  on  fractional 
or  subsidiary  coins.  By  1834  it  had  coined  $50,000,000  of 
silver  half  dollars,  and  a proportion  of  lesser  coins,  which, 
with  the  large  per  cent,  of  foreign  subsidiary  coins,  furnished 
an  ample  minor  currency. 

This  currency  condition  was  far  from  satisfactory.  Bi- 
metallism was  not  proving  the  theories  of  its  authors.  The 
question  of  a change  began  to  be  mooted.  Some  few  alter- 
ations were  made  in  the  Coinage  Act  from  time  to  time,  but 
the  original  Act  remained  in  all  its  essential  features  up  till 
1834. 

By  1831  Hon.  Campbell  P.  White,  an  authority  on  such 
matters,  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  a system  which 
sought  to  regulate  the  standard  of  value  in  both  gold  and 
silver  had  inherent  and  incurable  defects.  He  thought  it 


222 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


had  been  clearly  ascertained  by  experience  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  maintain  both  metals  in  concurrent,  simultaneous 
and  promiscuous  circulation. 

In  1832  a Committee  on  Coinage  reported  that  it  could 
not  find  “ that  both  metals  have  ever  circulated  simulta- 
neously, concurrently  and  indiscriminately  in  any  country 
where  there  were  banks  or  money  dealers ; and  they  enter- 
tain the  conviction  that  the  nearest  approach  to  an  invariable 
standard  is  its  establishment  in  one  metal,  which  metal  shall 
compose  exclusively  the  currency  of  large  payments.”  • 

The  time  had  now  come  for  a substantial  change  in  the 
Coinage  Act  of  1792.  What  was  chiefly  apparent  to  all  in 
1834  was  the  fact  that  the  ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  es- 
tablished by  that  Act,  was  no  longer,  if  it  had  ever  been, 
correct.  It  undervalued  gold.  But  there  was  no  general 
departure,  so  far  as  the  debates  show,  from  the  bi-metallic 
idea.  Statesmen  still  preferred  to  struggle  with  the  intricate 
problem  of  finding  a ratio  between  gold  and  silver  which 
would  prove  to  be  the  ratio  of  commerce. 

The  Director  of  the  Mint,  in  his  report  to  the  Congress 
for  the  year  1833,  said  that  the  “ new  coined  gold  frequently 
remains  in  the  mint  uncalled  for,  though  ready  for  delivery, 
until  the  day  arrives  for  a packet  to  sail  for  Europe.”  And 
he  concluded  that  the  entire  coinage  of  gold  in  the  future, 
amounting  to  perhaps  $2,000,000  annually,  would  be  ex- 
ported, unless  there  was  a reform  of  the  gold  standard. 

In  his  advocacy  of  a change  in  the  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver,  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  in  a speech  delivered  in  the 
Senate  in  1834,  said:  “The  false  valuation  put  upon  gold 
has  rendered  the  mint  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  the  gold 
coinage  is  concerned,  a most  ridiculous  and  absurd  institu- 
tion. It  has  coined,  and  that  at  large  expense  to  the  United 
States,  2,262,177  pieces  of  gold,  valued  at  $11,852,820,  and 


trust 


Hon.  David  B.  Culberson. 


Born  in  Troup  co.,  Ga.,  September  29,  1830 ; educated  at  Brown- 
wood ; studied  law  and  moved  to  Texas,  1856  ;■  elected  to  State  Legis- 
lature, 1859;  served  in  Confederate  army  throughout  war;  elected  to 
State  Legislature,  1864;  elected,  as  a Democrat,  to  44th,  45th,  46th, 
47th,  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to  represent  Fourth 
Texas  District,  composed  of  eleven  counties ; an  earnest  and  popular 
member,  admired  by  a large  constituency ; active  on  the  floor  as  debater 
and  parliamentarian  ; Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

(224) 


Hon.  James  McMillan. 

Born  at  Hamilton,  Ont.,  May  12,  1838  ; prepared  for  College,  but 
entered  business  in  Detroit,  1855 ; established  Michigan  Car  Company, 
1863;  member  and  chairman  of  Republican  State  Central  Committee, 
1876,1886,  1890;  President  of  Detroit  Park  Commission  and  Board 
of  Estimates;  Republican  Presidential  Elector,  1884;  elected  to  United 
States  Senate,  as  Republican,  for  term  beginning  March  4,  1889  ; an  in- 
dustrious. practical  member,  whose  opinions  command  respect ; Chair- 
man of  Committee  on  District  of  Columbia  and  member  of  Committees 
on  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  Education  and  Labor,  and  Post  Offices  and 
Post  Roads. 

(225) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


227 


where  are  the  pieces  now  ? Not  one  of  them  to  be  seen  ! 
All  sold  and  exported ! To  enable  the  friends  of  gold  to 
go  to  work  at  the  right  place  to  effect  the  recovery  of  that 
precious  metal  which  their  fathers  once  possessed — which 
the  subjects  of  European  kings  now  possess — which  the 
citizens  of  the  young  Republics  of  the  south  all  possess — 
which  even  the  free  negroes  of  San  Domingo  possess — but 
which  the  yeomanry  of  this  America  have  been  deprived  of 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  will  be  deprived  of  forever 
unless  they  discover  the  cause  of  the  evil,  and  apply  the 
remedy  to  the  root.” 

Under  these  auspices  the  Coinage  Act  of  June  28,  1834, 
was  passed.  By  this  Act  the  pure  gold  in  the  eagle  was 
reduced  from  247^  grains  to  232  grains,  and  a correspond- 
ing reduction  was  made  in  the  half  eagles  and  quarter 
eagles.  The  alloy  was  changed  from  22  to  26,  making 
the  eagle  contain  258  grains  of  standard  gold  instead  of  270 
grains.  The  Act  of  1834  made  no  change  in  the  silver  coins. 
This  change  in  the  gold  coinage  made  the  ratio  nearly  16  to 
1,  the  exact  ratio  being  16.002  to  1.  Why  this  ratio  was 
established,  or,  for  that  matter,  why  any  change  at  all  was 
made,  is  difficult  to  understand,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  at 
that  date  the  commercial  ratio  between  the  two  metals  was 
I to  15.6,  which,  for  convenience,  Europe  was  calling  1 to 
15  The  new  currency  ratio  of  1 to  16  was  as  far  removed 
from  the  commercial  ratio  of  1 to  1 5 ]/2  as  was  the  old  cur- 
rency ratio  of  I to  15.  Only  now  the  boot  was  on  the  other 
foot.  By  the  Act  of  1792  gold  was  undervalued  and  silver 
overvalued.  By  the  Act  of  1834  the  matter  was  reversed, 
and  gold  was  overvalued  and  silver  undervalued.  Or  con- 
sidering the  bi-metallic  views  of  the  framers  of  these  acts, 
the  result  of  the  Act  of  1792  was  to  overvalue  silver  as  to 
gold ; and  the  effect  of  the  Act  of  1834  was  to  overvalue  gold 


228  THE  SiLVER  QUESTION. 

as  to  silver.  In  their  practical  workings  these  Acts  quite 
threw  their  framers  from  their  bi-metallic  base,  and  inasmuch 
as  in  the  Act  of  1792  they  attempted  to  exalt  silver  at  the 
expense  of  gold,  they  became,  according  to  the'  laws  laid 
down  in  economics,  silver  monometallists.  So,  inasmuch  as 
in  the  Act  of  1834  they  sought  to  exalt  gold  at  the  expense 
of  silver,  they  became  gold  monometallists.  There  were  not 
wanting  those  who  sounded  the  note  of  warning  that  the  Act 
of  1834  would  but  repeat  that  of  1792,  in  the  respect  that 
cheap  gold  would  drive  out  the  silver  circulation  just  as 
cheap  silver  had  driven  out  the  gold  circulation. 

The  Act  of  1834  proved  very  unsatisfactory  in  its  opera- 
tion. Silver  fluctuated,  in  a commercial  sense,  for  years, 
but  it  did  not  fall  in  price  to  the  ratio  of  16  to  I of  gold. 
Consequently  silver  became  worth  more,  in  relation  to 
gold,  as  bullion  or  plate  than  as  coin,  and  it  began  to  dis- 
appear, there  being  no  inducement  to  coin  it.  After  1840, 
sight  of  a silver  dollar  was  rare,  and  as  a coin,  it  played  no 
conspicuous  part  in  our  circulation,  for  very  many  years. 
Monometallists  regard  the  effects  of  the  Act  of  1834  as 
another  striking  vindication  of  the  truth  of  “ Gresham’s 
Law,”  that  the  cheaper  money  invariably  drives  the  dearer 
from  circulation. 

act  of  1837. 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  Act  of  1834  led  to  that  of  January 
18,  1837,  which  was,  in  its  form,  a supplement  to  that  of 
1834,  yet  a complete  revision  of  the  laws  of  mintage,  and 
was  in  fact  known  as  “The  Mint  Act  of  1837.”  This  Act 
changed  the  standard  of  both  gold  and  silver  coins  and  the 
ratio  between  the  metals.  The  standard  for  gold  and  silver 
coins  was  fixed  at  .900  fine,  that  is,  900  parts  of  pure  metal 
to  IOO  parts  of  alloy.  This  increased  the  pure  gold  in  the 
dollar  from  23.20  to  23.22  grains,  and  fixed  the  ratio  between 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION.  229 

the  two  metals  at  15.98  to  1.  The  silver  dollar  was  changed 
"from  416  grains  of  standard  silver  to  412^  grains,  and  the 
fractional  coins  were  made  to  correspond  in  exact  propor- 
tion. To  make  the  alloy  equal  to  one-tenth  of  the  weight 
of  the  coin,  it  was  necessary  to  add  the  small  fraction  of 
two-tenths  of  one  grain  of  gold  to  the  eagle.  No  change, 
however,  was  made  in  the  quantity  of  pure  silver  contained 
in  the  dollar.  That  remained  at  371*4  grains,  and  it  con- 
tinues at  that  figure.  This  Act  also  provided  that  “ gold  and 
silver  bullion  brought  to  the  mint  for  coinage  shall  be  re- 
ceived and  coined  by  the  proper  officers  for  the  benefit  of 
the  depositor.”  This  provision  for  coinage  was  taken  from 
the  previous  Acts,  and  continued  the  coinage  of  the  two 
metals  upon  the  same  footing.  The  fact  that  there  was  no 
change  in  the  quantity  of  silver  in  the  dollar  has  given  origin 
and  currency  to  the  phrase  “ Dollar  of  the  Fathers,”  or  the 
more  alliterative  and  catchy  term  “ Dollar  of  the  Daddies.” 

What  is  regarded  as  a serious  error  in  all  the  Coinage 
Acts  up  to  and  including  that  of  1837  was  the  ^act  that  the 
minor  coins  had  been  made  to  contain  the  exact  proportion 
of  silver  contained  in  the  dollar.  They,  therefore,  paid  the 
penalty  visited  on  the  silver  dollar.  They  shrank  from  cir- 
culation, or  left  the  country,  and  this  became  particularly 
manifest  after  the  inequality  between  the  production  of  gold 
and  silver  in  this  country  set  in  with  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California. 

Prior  to  this  discovery  the  world’s  production  of  gold  and 
silver  was  nearly  equal,  the  annual  average  of  gold  produc- 
tion between  1841  and  1851  being  about  $38,000,000,  and 
that  of  silver  about  $34,000,000.  But  from  1849  to  1851 
the  world  seems  to  have  poured  forth  its  treasures  of  gold 
with  unparalleled  liberality.  California,  Russia  and  Aus- 
tralia contributed  a new  and  unprecedented  output  of  gold. 


230 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


In  the  five  years,  from  1851  to  1855,  the  world’s  produc- 
tion of  gold  leaped  from  $38,000,000  to  $140,000,000  an- 
nually, while  in  those  years  the  production  of  silver  only 
increased  from  $34,000,000  to  $40,000,000  annually.  The 
equality  between  the  two  products  prior  to  1849  did  not 
serve  to  materially  affect  their  commercial  ratio,  but  the 
inequality  after  that  year  greatly  affected  it,  by  giving  a still 
higher  value  to  silver.  This  fact,  co-operating  with  the 
effect  of  the  Coinage  Act,  enhanced  the  difficulty  already 
spoken  of  with  the  circulation  of  silver  coins  of  every  de- 
nomination. “ There  is,”  said  Mr.  Dunham  in  Congress  in 
1853,  “a  constant  stimulant  to  gather  up  every  silver  coin 
and  send  it  to  market  as  bullion,  to  be  exchanged  for  gold, 
and  the  result  is,  the  country  is  almost  devoid  of  small 
change  for  the  ordinary  small  transactions,  and  what  we 
have  is  of  a depreciated  character.” 

The  commercial  ratio  in  Europe  being  about  15*^  to  1, 
silver  coins  were  worth  three  per  cent,  more  for  export  than 
our  gold  coins,;  that  is,  they  were  worth  three  per  cent,  more 
as  bullion  than  as  money.  When  it  became  apparent  that 
the  country  was  thus  being  depleted  of  its  change,  agitation 
set  in  for  a remedy. 

COINAGE  ACT  OF  I 849. 

The  Coinage  Act  of  March  3,  1849,  was  a provision  for  a 
fuller  and  larger  mintage  of  gold,  whose  production  bade 
fair  to  be  greatly  increased  in  this  country  owing  to  devel- 
opments in  California.  It  authorized  the  coinage  of  double 
eagles,  and  also  of  gold  dollars.  “ Double  eagles  should 
each  be  of  the  value  of  twenty  dollars,  or  units,  and  gold 
dollars  should  each  be  of  the  value  of  one  dollar,  or  uni^ 
these  coins  to  be  uniform  in  all  respects  to  the  standard  for 
gold  coins  now  established  by  law.” 


Hon.  John  R.  McPherson. 


Born  at  Dorchester,  N H.,  October  9,  1834,  academically  educated  ; 
learned  locomotive  building  at  Manchester,  N.  H.  ; moved  to  New  Jer- 
sey to  engage  in  Railway  business;  largely  interested  in  same;  Pre-i- 
dent  of  First  National  Bank,  Long  Branch  ; member  of  New  Jersey 
Legislature  (II.  R.),  1878-80;  delegate  to  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention, 1880;  eletced  as  Democrat  to  United  States  Senate  for  term 
March  4,  1887  ; prominent  in  party  and  national  affairs,  and  a leader 
in  his  State;  Chairman  of  Select  Committee  on  Potomac  River  Frorvi; 
and  member  of  Committee  on  Finance,  Immigration  and  Naval  Affairs. 

(231) 


* 1*^  * •»»» 

7«r 

’ • ■ 

W^'-».~i — ^jSi.'.  wl  *-■■•  — ail 


. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


233 


It  was  not  until  the  Act  of  1853  coinage  of  three 

dollar  gold  pieces  was  authorized,  “ of  the  value  of  three 
dollars,  or  units,  conformable  in  all  respects  to  the  standard 
gold  coins  now  authorized  by  law.”  The  word  “ dollar  or 
unit”  was  used  in  all  the  Coinage  Acts  to  describe  the  value 
of  the  gold  coins  prior  to  1873. 

COINAGE  ACT  OF  1 85  3. 

This  Act  is  significant  in  our  monetary  history  as  being 
the  first  which  recognized  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  a 
perfect  bi-metallic  standard,  and  the  first  which  contained  a 
step  toward  the  demonetization  of  silver.  It  was  passed  in 
February,  1853,  and  it  reduced  the  weight  of  the  half  dollar 
from  206^  grains  of  standard  silver  to  192  grains  of  the 
same.  All  the  smaller  coins  were  reduced  in  proportion. 
At  the  same  time  the  full  legal  tender  quality  was  removed 
from  these  subsidiary  coins,  and  they  became  no  longer  a 
legal  tender  for  sums  exceeding  five  dollars.  This  provision 
has  not  since  been  removed.  Again,  it  was  provided  that 
the  bullion  for  the  coinage  of  fractional  silver  should  be 
purchased  directly  by  the  government,  or  by  the  Director 
of  the  Mint  on  account  of  the  government,  and  that  the  gain 
arising  from  the  coinage  thereof  should  be  credited  to  the 
Mint.  This  was  a blow  at  the  “ free  and  unlimited  coinage  ” 
of  the  subsidiary  coins.  By  this  reduction  of  the  amount 
of  silver  in  the  fractional  coins  to  the  extent  of  about  seven 
per  cent.,  all  inducement  to  melt  them  up  or  sell  them  as 
bullion  was  removed ; for,  although  the  silver  dollar  still 
remained  at  from  three  to  three  and  a half  per  cent,  above 
the  gold  dollar  in  value,  the  seven  per  cent,  reduction  in  the 
commercial  value  of  the  fractional  coins  brought  them  three 
to  three  and  a half  per  cent,  below  the  value  of  gold;  quite 
enough  of  depreciation  to  save  them  to  the  circulation. 


234 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


It  must  be  remarked  of  the  period  which  led  to,  embraced 
and  immediately  followed  the  Coinage  Act  of  1853,  that  it 
was  a period  in  which  there  was  hardly  any  coinage  of 
silver  dollars,  and  practically  no  circulation  of  them.  In 
1850  only  $47,500  silver  dollars  were  coined;  in  1851, 
$1,300;  in  1852,  $1,100.  All  attention  was  paid  to  the 
coinage  of  gold,  the  total  coinage  of  which,  in  1852,  was 
$56,000,000,  fully  $2,000,000  of  which  was  in  gold  dollars. 

The  framers  of  the  Act  of  1853  paid  no  attention  to  the 
fact  that  our  silver  production  from  1851  to  1855  was  about 
$400,000  per  year.  They  saw  only  the  large  gold  produc- 
tion of  over  $60,000,000  per  year,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Act  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  establish,  as  far  as 
possible,  a single  currency  standard  of  gold.  True,  they  did 
not  interfere  with  the  silver  dollar.  There  was  no  need  to. 
None  were  being  coined.  None  were  in  circulation. 

from  1853  to  1873. 

This  period  is  marvellous  in  the  history  of  metallic  money 
and  monetary  systems  at  home  and  abroad.  The  world’s 
production  of  gold  from  1850  to  1870  was  $2,725,000,000, 
or  five  times  as  much  as  in  the  preceding  twenty  years,  and 
quite  as  much  as  during  the  entire  period  from. the  discov- 
ery of  America  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California. 

The  commercial  world  became  alarmed  at  these  figures, 
fearing  a general  derangement  of  values.  That  the  com- 
mercial value  of  gold  was  decreasing  was  manifest  from  the 
increase  in  the  price  of  standard  commodities  all  the  world 
over.  Theories  arose  in  all  directions  as  to  remedies.  Some 
French  economists  thought  it  an  excellent  time  to  demon- 
etize gold,  and  establish  a single  silver  standard.  Others 
thought  the  time  opportune  to  establish  the  principle  of  bi- 
metallism, provided  the  several  commercial  nations  could  bq 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION 


235 


brought  to  give  common  consent.  France,  Italy,  Switzer- 
land and  Belgium  formed  what  was  called  “ The  Latin 
Monetary  Union  ” in  1863,  based  on  bi-metallism.  But  in 
1867  was  held  the  “ International  Monetary  Conference,” 
at  Paris,  in  which  it  was  laid  down  that  the  adoption  of  a 
single  gold  standard  was  a principle  necessary  to  universal 
coinage. 

Following  this,  in  1871,  came  the  defeat  of  France  in  the 
Franco-Russian  war,  and  her  payment  of  an  immense  sub- 
sidy in  gold  to  Germany.  Immediately,  Germany,  by  a 
series  of  Coinage  Acts  from  1871  to  1S73,  demonetized  her 
silver  and  adopted  a single  gold  standard.  She  stopped  coin- 
ing silver  and  threw  it  on  the  market,  selling  $140,000,000 
worth  between  1873  and  1879.  This  alarmed  the  countries 
pledged  to  a bi-metallic  system.  The  Latin  Union  closed 
the  mints  of  France,  Belgium,  Italy  and  Switzerland,  to  the 
coinage  of  silver,  thus  confessing  their  inability  to  maintain 
the  two  metals  on  an  equality  and  as  money.  For  thirteen 
years  France  did  not  issue  a single  legal  tender  silver  coin, 
and  on  January  1,  1891,  the  Latin  Union  went  out  of  ex- 
istence. 

Meanwhile,  our  own  country  was  passing  through  the 
throes  of  war  and  the  demoralization  attending  an  expanded 
and  strained  credit.  In  1861  the  government  became  a bor- 
rower in  gold  to  the  extent  of  $100,000,000.  In  February, 
1862,  it  passed  the  “ Legal  Tender  Act,”  under  which 
$150,000,000  in  “ Greenbacks  ” were  issued  as  legal  tenders. 
At  once  gold  jumped  to  a premium.  The  government’s 
promises  to  pay  were  so  much  cheaper  and  inferior  as  a cir- 
culating medium,  that  gold  hied  away  and  disappeared  as 
currency. 

In  July  of  the  same  year  another  issue  of  $150,000,000 
of  legal  tenders  was  authorized.  Gold  rose  to  a still  higher 


236 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


premium.  Even  our  fractional  silver  currency,  depreciated 
as  it  was  by  the  Act  of  1853,  went  to  a premium  and  dis- 
appeared with  the  gold.  This  made  the  fractional  paper 
currency  necessary.  Subsequent  uses  of  government  credit 
in  various  forms  and  for  war  purposes,  continued  to  advance 
the  premium  on  gold  till  in  July,  1884,  it  reached  185  per 
cent.  Peace,  the  ability  of  the  government  to  pay,  as  steps 
toward  resumption  showed,  and  final  resumption  in  1879, 
mark  the  decline  of  gold  to.  par  again,  or  rather  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  government  promise  to  pay  to  the  gold  standard. 

THE  ACT  OF  1 873. 

This  Act  has  become  more  famous  through  subsequent 
discussions  of  it,  than  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  merits  or 
the  debates  which  attended  its  passage.  It  is  now  “ The 
Odious  Demonetization  Act  of  1873  ” or  “The  Conspiracy 
Against  Silver  ” of  that  year.  The  facts  connected  with  its 
passage  hardly  support  the  charge  that  it  was  a “ trick  ” 
played  on  the  advocates  of  free  silver  coinage  by  their 
opponents.  As  to  the  intimation  that  “ its  contents  were 
not  fully  known  ” or  sufficiently  known,  that  is  matter  per- 
sonal to  the  majority  which  passed  it  and  remote  from  its 
merits. 

The  approaches  to  no  other  Coinage  Act  seem  to  have 
been  more  deliberate  and  gradual.  The  original  draft  of  the 
Act  was  presented  to  the  Senate  as  early  as  April,  1 870,  by 
the  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Boutwell. 
It  had  been  prepared  with  great  deliberation,  and  under  the 
supervision  of  Dr.  Linderman,  Director  of  the  Mint.  It  pro- 
ceeded on  the  theory  that  if  the  American  silver  dollar  were 
made  the  equivalent  of  the  five-franc  piece  of  France — France 
being  on  a bi-metallic  basis,  and  with  a great  volume  of  sil- 
ver currency — said  dollar  might  become  interchangeable 


l 3::  


Hon.  Charles  F.  Manderson. 

Born  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  February  9,  1837 ; educated  at  public 
schools ; studied  law  in  Canton,  Ohio,  and  admitted  to  bar,  1859 ; City 
Solicitor  of  Canton,  1860 ; entered  Union  army,  1861 ; mustered  out  as 
Brigadier-General,  1865;  District  Attorney  of  Canton,  1865-1869; 
moved  to  Omaho,  Nebraska,  1869;  acquired  high  standing  in  profession; 
City  Attorney  for  Omaha,  1871  and  1874;  choice  of  both  parties  as 
member  of  Nebraska  Constitutional  Convention,  1871  and  1874;  elected 
to  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a Republican,  1882 ; re-elected  in  1888 ; chosen 
President  pro  tempore  of  Senate,  April,  1891 ; Chairman  of  Committee 
on  Printing,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Indian  Affairs,  Military 
Affairs  aud  Rules. 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


239 


with  European  coins  of  like  value.  The  bill,  therefore, 'fixed 
the  weight  of  the  silver  dollar  at  384  grains  standard  silver, 
that  being  the  weight  of  the  five-franc  piece. 

But  as  this  was  really  to  reduce  the  ratio  between  silver 
and  gold  to  about  14.8  to  1,  and  as  the  bill  gave  to  the  sil- 
ver dollar  a limited  legal  tender  power,  it  was  not  regarded 
as  one  which  would  effect  its  object  and  make  our  silver 
dollar  float  all  over  the  world.  It,  therefore,  flitted  back 
and  forward  between  the  two  houses  of  Congress  for  three 
years,  the  subject  of  repeated  debates  and  amendments,  the 
theme  of  much  newspaper  discussion,  till  at  length  it  was 
passed  by  the  House,  with  the  clause  providing  for  a silver 
dollar  of  384  grains  in  it.  This  provision  was  struck  out 
by  the  Senate,  and  what  was  called  the  “Trade  Dollar” 
clause  was  inserted  in  its  stead.  This  clause  provided  for  a 
trade  dollar  of  420  grains  standard  silver  and  378  grains 
pure  silver,  and  a limit  on  its  legal  tender  quality  to  sums 
of  five  dollars.  The  object  was  to  provide  a market  for  our 
production  of  silver  and  to  make  a dollar  which  would  sub- 
stitute the  old  Spanish  dollar  in  the  Pacific  trade  with  China 
and  Japan.  It  was  a dollar  of  commerce  and  not  circu- 
lation. 

The  bill  then  went  to  a Committee  of  Conference  between 
the -two  Houses,  where  its  final  form  was  agreed  upon.  It 
then  passed  both  Houses  and  became  a law  February  12, 
1873.  It  provided  that  the  gold  coins  “shall  be  a one  dol- 
lar piece,  which,  at  the  standard  weight  of  25.8  grains,  shall 
be  the  unit  of  value,”  etc. 

The  gold  coins  of  larger  denominations  were  based  upon 
the  one  dollar  piece.  The  silver  coins  were  declared  to  be 
a trade  dollar,  etc.,  and  “ the  weight  of  the  trade  dollar  shall 
be  420  grains  troy  . . . and  said  coins  shall  be  a legal  ten- 
der at  their  nominal  value  for  any  amount  not  exceeding 
11 


240 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


five  dollars  in  any  one  payment.”  Thus  the  standard  silver 
dollar  was  not  only  struck  from  the  list  of  coins,  but  its  sub- 
stitute was  limited  in  legal  tender  power  and  classified  with 
the  fractional  coins.  No  change  was  made  in  the  weight  or 
quality  of  the  gold  coins.  The  important  changes  made, 
and  which  have  given  rise  to  so  much  contention  since, 
were : 

1.  The  gold  dollar  was  made  the  unit  value. 

2.  The  trade  was  substituted  for  the  standard  silver  dollar. 

3.  Silver  was  deprived  of  full  legal  tender  power,  and 
limited  to  payments  in  sums  of  five  dollars. 

No  change  was  made  in  the  minting  privilege  accorded 
the  two  metals,  except  with  reference  to  fractional  coins. 
Owners  of  silver  were  permitted  to  deposit  their  bullion  at 
the  Mint  upon  the  same  terms  as  owners  of  gold  bullion,  so 
far  as  trade  dollars  were  concerned.  The  provision  of  the 
Act  of  1853,  to  buy  silver  bullion  on  Government  account 
for  coining  fractional  silver,  was  continued  in  the  Act  of 
1873,  but  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  could  “ deposit  the 
same  at  any  mint,  to  be  formed  into  bars  or  into  trade  dol- 
lars,” at  a charge  not  to  exceed  the  actual  average  cost  to 
the  mint.  In  answering  the  complaint  that  the  Act  of  1873 
struck  down  silver,  Mr.  Ehrich,  of  Colorado,  says : — 

“ Silver  has  been  struck  down,  but  not  by  the  bill  of  1873, 
nor  by  any  bill  concocted  by  man.  The  hand  which  struck 
down  silver  is  the  hand  which  will  strike  us  all  down  in 
time,  the  hand  which  nothing  can  withstand,  the  irresistible 
hand  of  Nature.  Silver  has  been  struck  down  by  the 
natural  forces,  by  the  great  law  of  supply  and  demand.  The 
yearly  average  of  gold  production  in  the  twenty-five  years 
from  1851  to  1875  was  $ 1 27,000,00x3.  The  yearly  average 
product  of  silver  for  the  same  period  was  $51,000,000.  The 
average  annual  product  of  gold  for  the  fifteen  years  frorn 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


241 


1876  to  1890  declined  to  $108,000,000,  a falling  off  of  15 
per  cent.  The  average  annual  product  of  silver  for  the 
same  period  increased  to  $116,000,000,  an  increase  of  127 
per  cent.  There  is  the  whole  silver  question,  and  in  the 
face  of  these  facts,  it  is  now  impossible  for  the  United  States, 
single  handed,  with  free  and  unlimited  coinage,  to  bring  sil- 
ver to  a parity  with  gold  on  any  such  basis  as  16  to  I ; it  is 
more  impossible  than  for  a thousand  men  to  pick  up  our 
great  ‘ Pike’s  Peak  ’ and  transport  it  bodily  to  Denver.” 

ACTS  RELATING  TO  THE  TRADE  DOLLAR. 

By  the  Act  of  July  22,  1876,  it  was  provided  that  “the 
trade  dollar  shall  not  hereafter  be  a legal  tender,”  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  authorized  to  limit  the  coin- 
age thereof  “ to  such  an  amount  as  he  may  deem  sufficient 
to  meet  the  export  demand  for  the  same.”  By  this  Act  the 
silver  dollar  was  entirely  eliminated  from  the  list  of  United 
States  coins.  Subsequently  an  Act  was  passed  authorizing 
the  redemption  of  the  outstanding  trade  dollars  at  par,  and 
directing  their  recoinage  into  standard  dollars.  Before  the 
passage  of  this  Act,  however,  considerable  loss  was  sustained 
by  the  people  through  the  destruction  of  the  trade  dollar  as 
lawful  money.  Trade  dollars  to  the  number  of  35,965,924 
were  issued  from  the  mints,  a large  proportion  of  which  was 
sent  to  China  and  never  returned  for  redemption. 

EXTENT  OF  COINAGE  UNDER  ACTS  TO  1 878. 

From  the  establishment  of  the  mint  in  1792,  to  1806,  the 
aggregate  number  of  silver  dollars  coined  was  only  1,439,417, 
and  from  1806  to  1835  there  was  no  coinage  whatever  of 
this  piece.  In  1836  the  number  of  dollar  pieces  coined  was 
only  1,000.  The  two  years  following  coinage  of  dollars  was 
suspended,  but  was  resumed  in  1839,  when  300  were  issued, 


242 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


and  the  coinage  was  continued  until  1873,  when  the  standard 
silver  dollar  was  supplanted  by  the  trade  dollar.  The  largest 
annual  coinage  of  standard  silver  dollars  was  made  in  the 
years  1871  and  1872,  when  it  was  $1,1 17,136  and  $1,1 18,600 
respectively,  which  is  equal  to  nearly  two-fifths  of  the  aggre- 
gate of  standard  silver  dollars  coined  from  1792  to  1873, 
which  aggregate  was  7,830,538.  The  number  coined  in 
January  and  February,  1873,  was  296,000,  which  are  in- 
cluded in  the  above  aggregate.  The  “ Demonetization  Act  ” 
was  passed  February  12,  1873.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore, 
that  standard  silver  dollars  were  coined  down  to  the  passage 
of  the  Act  which  substituted  the  trade  dollar. 

COINAGE  ACT  OF  1 878. 

Remembering  now  that  for  seventeen  years  prior  to  1879 
* — the  date  of  resumption — neither  gold  nor  silver  coins 
were  in  circulation  in  the  United  States,  and  that  by  1876 
silver  had  fallen  to  #1.15  per  ounce,  we  are  prepared  for  the 
era  of  agitation  which  began  with  the  introduction  of  free 
silver  coinage  bills  into  Congress.  More  than  one  of  these 
was  introduced  into  the  House,  but  that  particular  one  which 
was  prepared  and  championed  by  Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri, 
passed  the  House  in  the  fall  of  1877.  It  became  known  as 
the  “ Bland  Bill,”  and  the  coinage  of  silver  that  followed  in 
its  wake  became  known  as  the  “ Bland  Dollars.” 

What  was  really  the  “ Bland  Bill,”  that  is,  the  bill  passed 
by  the  House  and  sent  to  the  Senate,  never  became  a law. 
The  bill  provided  for  the  coinage  of  “ silver  dollars  of  the 
weight  of  412^  grains  Troy,  of  standard  silver,  as  provided 
in  the  Act  of  January  18,  1837.”  . . . “Which  coins, 

together  with  all  silver  dollars  heretofore  coined  by  the 
United  States  of  equal  weight  and  fineness,  shall  be  a legal 
tender,  at  their  nominal  value,  for  all  debts  and  dues,  public 


U "lujjr 


Hon.  William  H.  H.  Miller, 

Born  in  Augusta,  N.  Y.,  September  6,  1840;  taught  school  and 
graduated  from  Hamilton  College,  1861 ; taught  at  Maumee,  Ohio,  one 
year;  entered  Union  army  as  Lieutenant  in  84th  Regiment,  Ohio  Vol- 
unteers; read  law  and  began  practice  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  1866;  moved 
to  Indianapolis  (1874)  and  formed  law  partnership  with  General  Benj. 
Harrison  ; appointed  Attorney  General  by  President  Harrison,  March 
5,  1889;  a profound  constitutional  lawyer,  an  able  and  conscientious 
official  ; was  sustained  by  Supreme  Court  in  his  heroic  action  in  celebrated 
Field-Terry  case  ; distinguished  for  ability  and  discretion  in  handling 
Behring  Sea  disputes;  conducted  the  Anti-Lottery  case  successfully  and 
secured  favorable  opinion  of  Supreme  Court ; secured  verdict  of  highest 
court  in  case  involving  constitutionality  of  McKinley  Act;  administra- 
tion noted  for  success  in  dealing  with  numerous  intricate  and  far-reach- 
ing questions;  name  mentioned  in  connection  with  U.  S.  Supreme  bench. 

(244) 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


245 


and  private,  except  where  otherwise  provided  by  contract. 
And,  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  may  deposit  the  same  at 
any  United  States  coinage  mint  or  assay  office,  to  be  coined 
into  such  dollars  for  his  benefit,  upon  the  same  terms  and 
conditions  as  gold  bullion  is  deposited  for  coinage  under  ex- 
isting laws.” 

The  above  is  the  “ Bland  Bill  ” as  to  its  vital  points  and 
as  it  passed  the  House  and  appeared  in  the  Senate.  It  gave 
free  coinage  (that  is,  the  same  coinage  as  was  given  to  gold) 
to  any  owner  of  silver  bullion  who  presented  it  at  the  mint. 
It  gave  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  dollars  for  all  silver  bul- 
lion presented  to  be  coined.  It  made  coinage  compulsory. 
At  the  ratio  existing  between  silver  and  gold,  it  was  prac^ 
tical  mono-metallism,  with  silver  as  the  standard  and  gold  at 
a premium,  for  the  cheaper  metal,  when  coined,  invariably 
takes  the  volume  of  circulation  and  expels  the  dearer. 

The  entire  character  of  this  bill  was  changed  in  the  Senate 
by  the  Allison  amendment  and  became  known  as  the  Bland- 
Allison  Bill.  It  was  then  passed  by  both  Houses  and  be- 
came the  Bland-Allison  Act.  As  passed,  it  involved  the 
principle  of  bi-metallism,  for  it  limited  the  coinage  of  the 
cheaper  metal,  silver,  and  undertook  to  maintain  it  at  par 
with  gold  by  providing  for  its  redemption. 

This  Act  of  February  28th,  1878,  restored  the  silver 
dollar  of  41 2]^  grains  to  the  coinage  with  full  legal  tender 
power,  but  did  not  restore  silver  bullion  to  the  minting 
privilege  which  attached  to  it  prior  to  1873,  and  which  was 
in  every  respect  equal  to  that  bestowed  upon  gold.  This 
Act  re-established  the  “ dollar  of  the  fathers,”  made  it  legal 
tender  for  all  debts,  “ except  when  otherwise  expressly 
stipulated  in  the  contract,”  and  directed  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  purchase  silver  bullion  monthly  “ at  the  market 
price  thereof,  not  less  than  two  million  dollars’  worth  per 


THE  SiEVER  QUESTION. 


246 

month  nor  more  than  four  million  dollars’  worth  per  month, 
and  cause  the  same  to  be  coined  monthly,  as  fast  as  so  pur- 
chased, into  such  dollars.”  The  third  section  provided  that 
holders  of  silver  dollars  “ may  deposit  the  same  with  the 
Treasurer  or  any  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United  States, 
in  sums  not  less  than  ten  dollars,  and  receive  therefor  cer-. 
tificates  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  each.” 

It  also  provided  as  follows : — 

“ That  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  Act  the  Presi- 
dent shall  invite  the  governments  of  the  countries  compos- 
ing the  Latin  Union,  so  called,  and  of  such  other  European 
nations  as  he  may  deem  advisable,  to  join  the  United  States 
in  a conference  to  adopt  a common  ratio  between  gold  and 
silver,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  internationally  the  use 
of  bimetallic  money  and  securing  fixity  of  relative  value 
between  those  metals.” 

This  bill  represented  the  same  order  of  thought  that  per- 
vades the  silver  agitation  of  the  year  1892.  Those  who 
favored  the  “ Greenback  ” inflation  scheme  were  its  ardent 
supporters.  Representatives  from  the  Silver-producing 
States  were  strongly  in  its  favor,  in  the  belief  that  it  would 
enhance  the  value  of  their  product.  While  it  made  the 
coinage  of  silver  dollars  compulsory  to  the  extent  of 
$ 2,000,000  a month,  it  placed  a limit  at  $4,000,000.  It  was 
thought  that  this  much  circulation  in  silver  dollars  could  be 
kept  at  par  with  gold,  but  it  was  soon  found  that  the  silver 
dollars  would  not  circulate.  Out  of  the  12,136  tons  of 
silver  purchased  by  the  Government  under  the  Act  at  a 
cost  of  $308,199,262,  and  out  of  the  378,166,793  silver 
dollars  coined  therefrom  under  the  Act,  at  an  expense  of 
$5,000,000,  not  more  than  one  out  of  eight  found  its  way 
into  circulation.  For  all  the  benefit  to  the  circulation 
derived  from  the  Act,  the  Government  might  as  well  have 


fHE  SILVER  Su^STfON. 


Hi 

saved  itself  the  ^5,000,000  expense  of  coinage,  and  bought 
and  stored  the  silver  in  bullion  shape.  The  bullion  was 
always  worth  more  than  the  coined  dollars,  and  could  have 
been  more  safely  and  cheaply  cared  for  in  the  Treasury 
vaults  than  its  equivalent  in  coins.  There  was  no  expansion 
of  the  currency,  as  the  ardent  advocates  of  the  bill  fondly 
hoped.  Nor  was  there  an  increase  in  the  price  of  silver 
bullion,  for  it  declined  from  $1.12  an  ounce  in  1879,  to  93^ 
cents  an  ounce  in  1889,  or  in  other  words  it  declined  to  a 
point  where  it  stood  to  gold  as  22  to  1 per  ounce  value,  and 
the  value  of  silver  in  a silver  dollar  was  only  72  cents. 

The  silver  certificate  feature  of  the  Act  proved  of  little 
practical  value,  and  in  the  main  the  Act  negatived  its  own 
provisions  and  bred  causes  for  its  repeal. 

COINAGE  ACT  OF  189O. 

But  the  Bland-Allison  Act  of  1878  was  not  without  its 
uses.  It  satisfied  neither  its  advocates  nor  its  opponents, 
and  increased  rather  than  decreased  the  silver  agitation.  It 
led  directly  to  and  perhaps  hastened  the  passage  of  the 
Coinage  Act  of  July  14,  1890. 

The  bill  which  became  the  basis  of  this  Act  was  prepared 
on  a plan  which  embraced  the  views  of  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  Windom.  It  was  submitted  to  the  House,  and 
passed.  Its  provisions  were  that  any  owner  of  silver  bul- 
lion, not  foreign,  could  bring  it  to  any  mint  and  obtain  for 
it  legal  tender  treasury  notes  equal  in  value  to  the  then 
market  value  of  the  silver,  which  notes  were  redeemable 
either  in  gold  or  silver  bullion,  at  its  then  market  value,  at 
the  option  of  the  government,  or  in  silver  dollars  at  the 
holder’s  option. 

. This  bill  was  amended  in  the  Senate  by  inserting  a clause 
providing  for  free  and  unlimited  coinage.  It  then  went  to 


248 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


a conference  committee,  where  it  took  the  form  in  which  it 
was  passed  finally  and  became  a law,  July  14,  1890. 

As  passed,  it  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
purchase  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver  bullion  each  month  at 
the  market  price  thereof,  not  exceeding  $1  for  every  371^ 
grains  of  pure  silver,  and  to  issue  in  payment  for  such  pur- 
chase Treasury  Notes  of  the  United  States. 

Those  Treasury  Notes  are  made  redeemable  in  coin , gold 
or  silver  at  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  have  full  legal  tender  value.  Following  this  clause  is 
one  which  reads  “ It  being  the  established  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  maintain  the  two  metals  on  a parity  with 
each  other  upon  the  present  legal  ratio,  or  such  ratio  as 
may  be  provided  by  law.” 

The  Act  also  provided  for  the  actual  coinage  of  2,000,000 
silver  dollars  a month  up  until  July  1,  1891. 

By  comparing  the  two  Acts  of  1878  and  1890,  a better 
view  of  the  silver  controversy  may  be  had.  The  Act 
of  1878  made  it  compulsory  on  the  Government  to  buy 
silver  bullion  to  the  value  of  $2,000,000  and  not  exceeding 
$4,000,000  monthly,  and  to  coin  the  same  into  silver  dollars. 
This  was  a drain  on  the  Treasury  of  at  least  $24,000,000  a 
year.  Holders  of  silver  dollars  could  exchange  them  at  the 
Treasury,  in  sums  of  ten  dollars,  for  Silver  Certificates,  the 
coin  remaining  in  the  Treasury  for  the  payment  of  the  Cer- 
tificate on  demand.  These  Certificates  were  not  given  full 
legal  tender  value,  except  for  payment  of  customs  and  all 
public  dues.  This  approval  of  them  by  the  Government 
confirmed  them  in  popular  estimation,  and  they  were  as 
freely  accepted  by  the  people  as  if  they  had  been  a full  legal 
tender. 

The  Act  of  1 890  made  compulsory'  on  the  Treasury  the  pur- 
chase of  4, 500, OCX)  ounces  of  silver  per  month,  or  54,000,000 


fHE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


249 


ounces  a year.  But  instead  of  paying  cash  for  it,  payment 
was  to  be  made  in  Certificates,  called  Treasury  notes, 
especially  issued,  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  and 
clothed  with  full  legal  tender  power. 

It  will  be  seen  that  payment  for  the  bullion,  under  the 
Act  of  1878,  was  in  cash;  while  payment  for  the  bullion 
under  the  Act  of  1890  was  by  Certificate,  or  Treasury  note. 

There  was  no  compulsory  coinage  of  the  bullion  under 
the  Act  of  1890,  except  at  the  rate  of  $ 2,000,000  a month 
up  till  July  I,  1891.  Since  that  date  no  silver  dollars  have 
been  coined,  but  the  bullion  purchased  is  held  in  the  form 
of  fine  silver  bars.  Under  the  Act,  $28,298,45  5 were  coined, 
and  up  to  April  1,  1891,  $89,602,198  in  Treasury  notes,  to 
pay  for  bullion  deposited,  had  been  issued,  $77,605,000  of 
which  were  in  circulation.  At  the  same  date  the  value  of 
silver  bars  held  by  the  Treasury  was  $65,720,000. 

On  November  1,  1891,  the  total  of  silver  dollars  coined 
and  in  existence  in  the  United  States,  under  all  the  Acts, 
was  $409,475,368,  of  which  $347,339,907  were  in  the 
Treasury,  and  only  $62,135,461  outside  of  the  Treasury,  or 
in  circulation. 

Against  this  $323,668,401  silver  certificates  had  been 
issued,  $321,142,642  of  which  were  outside  of  the  Treasury 
and  $2,525,759  inside.  At  the  same  date  the  stock  of  silver 
bullion  in  the  Treasury  was  $33,094,234. 

The  54,000,000  ounces  of  silver  which  the  Government  is 
required  to  buy  yearly,  and  to  issue  Treasury  notes  therefor, 
was  the  exact  output  of  the  silver  mines  in  the  United  States 
in  1890.  A prime  object  of  the  law  was,  therefore,  to 
furnish  a sure  market  for  the  product  of  our  mines,  at  the 
prevailing  price  of  silver  bullion  when  presented  at  the 
Treasury.  The  Act  was  a compromise  Act,  and  both  mine- 
owners  and  advocates  of  “ free  and  unlimited  coinage  ” ac- 


25C5 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


cepted  the  compromise,  as  the  best  that  could  be  done  1 6 
secure  a certain  home  market  for  their  product,  and  at  the 
same  time  increase  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country 
by  just  the  number  of  Treasury  notes  required  to  purchase 
54,000,000  ounces  of  silver. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  Act  really  authorizes  the 
purchase  of  more  than  the  silver  product  of  American  mines, 
available  for  coinage  purposes,  since  some  three  to  five 
million  ounces  of  said  product  are  annually  used  up  in  the 
arts. 

It  was  a general  belief,  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the 
Act  of  1890,  that  its  effect  would  be  to  increase  the  market 
price  of  silver.  Indeed  this  was  confidently  prophesied  by 
mine-owners  and  free-silver-coinage  advocates.  In  anticipa- 
tion of  such  rise,  silver  speculators  entered  the  market  and 
drove  silver  bullion  up  to  $1.05  an  ounce  in  April,  1890; 
to  $1.08  in  May;  to  $1.15  in  August;  to  $1.21  in  Septem- 
ber. But  now  the  natural  law  of  supply  and  demand  began 
to  operate  against  them.  They  had  to  contend  with  the 
world’s  market  and  the  world’s  prices,  and  no  longer  with  a 
home  market  and  home  prices.  The  inevitable  consequence 
was  that  the  price  of  silver  broke.  The  country  that  could 
sustain  a certain  amount  of  silver  coin,  as  a circulating 
medium,  at  par  with  gold,  could  not  sustain  the  market 
value  of  silver  bullion  at  a point  above  where  the  laws  of 
supply  and  demand,  as  established  by  the  world  at  large, 
chose  to  fix  it. 

In  October,  1890,  silver  fell  to  $1.09  per  ounce;  in  De- 
cember to  $1.06.  The  decline  has  been  gradual  ever 
since.  In  December,  1891,  silver  was  worth  94^  cents  an 
ounce,  and  the  fine  silver  in  a dollar  was  worth  only  73 
cents.  On  May  23,  1892,  silver  sold  for  88 ^ cents  per 
ounce.  Therefore,  even  with  so  excellent  a customer  as  the 


Mb  SIIvVBR  QUBStlON. 


25  i 

Government,  and  one  ready  to  take  the  entire  output  of  the 
silver  mines  of  the  country,  the  market  price  of  the  product 
declined.  The  law  of  the  world  proved  mightier  than  the 
law  of  the  United  States. 

. THE  BLAND  FREE  COINAGE  BILL PROPOSED  ACT  OF  1 892. 

Failure  of  silver  producers  to  realize  their  expectations 
under  the  Act  of  1890,  a growing  desire  to  relieve  depressed 
industrial  and  trade  conditions,  especially  in  the  West  and 
South,  and  the  fact  that  political  conventions  in  a great 
many  States  had  given  the  silver  question  a party  turn, 
rendered  the  opening  of  the  Fifty-second  Congress  an  op- 
portune time  to  seek  new  coinage  legislation.  In  the 
Democratic  Conventions  the  planks  favored  the  “ free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver ; ” in  the  Republican  Conven- 
tions they  favored  the  “ maintainance  of  silver  on  a parity 
with  gold.” 

The  Congress  opened  with  an  overwhelming  Democratic 
majority,  and  Mr.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  became  the  recognized 
leader  of  his  party  on  the  silver  question.  He  introduced 
into  the  House  what  became  known  as  the  “ Bland  Free 
Silver  Coinage  Bill,”  and  advocated  it  with  his  well-known 
ability.  It  drew  around  it  the  advocates  of  “ free  and  un- 
limited coinage  ” and  became  the  subject  of  animated  and 
prolonged  debate.  When  ripe  for  passage  Mr.  Bland  de- 
manded the  previous  question,  which  failed  by  the  very  re- 
markable vote  of  148  yeas  to  148  nays ; there  being  enough 
of  Eastern  Democrats  voting  with  the  Republicans  to  cause 
this  disappointing  result  to  the  friends  of  the  measure. 

As  this  vote  by  no  means  disposed  of  the  measure  finally 
in  the  House,  or  if  so,  as  the  question  must  be  a leading  one 
in  the  National  campaign  of  1892,  it  is  well  to  understand 
the  provisions  of  the  bill. 


252 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


It  provides  that  the  unit  of  value  shall  be  the  standard 
silver  dollar  as  now  coined,  of  41 2x/2  grains  standard  silver,  or 
the  gold  dollar  of  25.8  grains  standard  gold. 

That  the  standard  gold  and  silver  coins  shall  be  full  legal 
tender. 

That  any  holder  of  standard  gold  or  silver  bullion  shall 
be  entitled  to  have  the  same  minted  into  coins  free  of 
charge,  or  may  deposit  said  bullion  at  the  mints  and  receive 
coin  notes  therefor,  equal  in  value  to  the  coinage  value  of 
the  bullion  deposited,  the  bullion  thereupon  to  become  the 
property  of  the  government. 

That  the  coin  notes  shall  not  be  less  than  one  nor  over 
one  thousand  dollars  in  value  and  shall  be  a legal  tender. 

That  issue  of  the  Treasury  notes  in  pay  for  bullion,  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Act  of  1890,  shall  be  discontinued,  and  all 
such  as  are  outstanding  shall  be  called  in  and  destroyed  and 
coin  notes  shall  be  substituted  for  them. 

That  the  issue  of  coin  notes  shall  never  be  greater  than 
the  coinage  value  of  the  bullion  in  the  Treasury. 

That  said  coin  notes  shall  be  redeemed  in  coin  at  the 
Treasury,  and  the  bullion  deposited  shall  be  coined  as  fast 
as  said  coins  are  needed  for  such  purposes  of  redemption. 

That  any  holder  of  gold  or  silver  coins  may  deposit  the 
same,  in  sums  of  ten  dollars,  and  demand  coin  notes 
therefor. 

That  the  Act  of  1890  is  repealed;  and  that  the  silver 
dollar  of  412^2  grains  may  change  to  one  of  400  grains  as 
soon  as  France  reopens  her  mints  to  free  and  unrestricted 
coinage  of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  1 5 y2  of  silver  to  I of  gold. 

Under  the  Act  of  1890  the  government  must  purchase 
54,000,000  ounces  of  silver  per  annum,  for  which  it  pays  the 
market  price. 

Under  the  proposed  Act  of  1892  the  owner  of  gold  or 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


255 


silver  bullion  may  deposit  his  bullion  at  the  mint,  demand 
its  mintage  free,  or  demand  coin  notes  for  it  at  the  mint  value 
of  the  bullion. 

In  the  former  case  the  owner  of  bullion  got  pay  for  bul- 
lion at  its  price  on  the  day  he  deposited  it.  In  the  latter 
case  he  can  get  pay  at  the  mint  value  of  the  bullion, 
that  is,  for  every  ounce  of  silver  bullion  deposited  that  has 
cost  him  95  cents,  he  can  get  $1.29  in  coin.  The  oppo- 
nents of  free  coinage  put  it  this  way  : — The  mine  owners 
turned  in  their  product  of  54,000,000  ounces  last  year  at  a 
value  of  $53,796,833,  for  which  they  received  Treasury  notes 
to  that  amount.  Under  the  proposed.  Bland  Act  they  could 
demand  the  mint  value  for  their  54,000,000  ounces.  The 
mint  value  would  be  $71,000,000.  Therefore,  they  receive 
nearly  30  per  cent,  in  excess  of  the  market  value  of  their 
silver.  But  the  advocates  of  free  coinage  say  that  the  dis- 
crimination of  existing  laws  against  silver  makes  the  dispar- 
ity between  it  and  gold,  and  that  the  removal  of  such  dis- 
crimination would  make  the  bullion  value  of  silver  and  the 
price  of  it  with  the  government  stamp  on  it  the  same.  They 
say  that  whenever  the  mints  are  open  to  the  free  coinage  of 
silver,  and  whenever  the  owner  of  such  silver  can  have  it 
exchanged  at  the  rate  of  100  cents  for  37  grains,  silver 
will  be  worth  as  much  without  as  with  the  government 
stamp.  Their  opponents  say  they  quite  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  the  moment  these  371  ^ grains  of  silver  which  are 
worth  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  say  80  cents,  becomes 
worth  100  cents  by  sheer  virtue  of  the  stamp  upon  it,  all  the 
world  will  pour  its  surplus  silver  into  our  mints  and  com- 
pletely swamp  our  metal  currency.  Gold  would  flee  and 
there  would  be  no  means  of  sustaining  silver  money  at 
par.  They  also  say  that  as  the  country  is  at  present  situated 
with  barely  enough  of  gold  to  sustain  our  present  silver  cir- 


256 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


culation,  the  moment  free  coinage  of  silver  were  adopted  it 
would  be  accepted  by  the  Treasury  and  by  the  banks,  as 
notice  to  suspend  gold  payments.  Unless  such  suspension 
were  resorted  to  it  would  be  no  time  before  the  gold  reserve 
would  be  exhausted  and  catastrophe  ensue. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  free  and  unrestricted  coinage 
of  silver  gain  great  plausibility  when  they  are  turned  to  the 
account  of  the  debtor  classes — to  farmers  with  mortgages  on 
their  farms  and  to  others  similarly  encumbered.  As  seen 
just  above,  they  could  take  advantage  of  the  30  per  cent, 
between  the  market  and  mint  value  of  the  dollar  and  thus 
pay  their  debts  at  less  than  they  contracted  to  pay.  The 
opponents  of  free  silver  coinage  say  it  would  be  better  for 
the  government  to  extend  this  difference  to  these  debtors  as 
a charity,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  a dishonored  currency 
and  of  the  panics,  disturbances  and  immense  losses  which 
would  surely  follow. 

Again  the  free  silver  coinage  men  say  they  are  certain 
that  their  doctrine  in  practice  will  make  the  silver  dollar 
fully  equal  to  the  gold  dollar.  If  this  be  so,  say  their  oppo- 
nents, then  a silver  dollar  will  be  as  hard  to  get  as  the  gold 
dollar  and  the  debtor  will  be  no  better  off  than  at  present. 
But  granting  every  advantage  claimed  by  the  free  coinage 
men  for  the  debtor  classes,  how  about  the  creditor  classes  ? 
They  are  by  far  the  most  numerous  class.  Every  laborer 
is  a creditor  when  his  day’s  work  is  done,  every  pensioner 
of  the  government,  every  saving  institution,  etc.  If  the 
cheaper  dollar  scales  the  mortgage  for  the  debtor  and  en- 
ables him  to  pay  it  easier — a matter  the  mortgagee  might 
stand — would  not  the  cheaper  dollar  scale  the  debt  due  at 
night  to  the  miner,  the  servant,  the  artisan,  the  day  laborer  ? 

No,  says  the  free  coinage  man,  for  the  dollar  would  still 
be  a dollar.  But  says  his  opponent,  it  being  a dollar  whose 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


257 


intrinsic  value  is  only  80  or  90  cents,  and  being  plenty, 
prices  must  rise,  and  the  miner’s  $3.50  per  day  can  only  be 
exchanged  for  commodities  which  formerly  cost  him  a dollar 
less. 

But  as  most  of  the  infallible  laws  which  underlie  the  ques- 
tions of  currency  have  already  been  stated  in  this  article,  we 
leave  the  theories  which  now  constitute  so  large  a part  of 
the  discussion  of  the  silver  question  to  the  reader,  to  indulge 
as  he  chooses.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  other  coun- 
tries have  done  with  their  silver  just  what  is  proposed  to 
be  done  here,  and  that  they — notably  the  Latin  Union — 
had  to  give  up  in  despair  their  efforts  to  sustain  silver  coin- 
age at  par  with  gold,  in  quantities  beyond  the  ordinary  needs 
of  trade.  Our  reserve  of  gold  will  always  float  a fair  quan- 
tity of  silver,  but  to  give  to  silver  free  and  unlimited  coinage 
is  to  place  gold  at  its  mercy,  if  the  experience  of  other  na- 
tions is  worth  anything. 

This  might  not  be  so  if  other  countries  were  on  a silver 
basis,  or  even  if  silver  constituted  a larger  per  cent,  of  their 
currency.  It  is  with  a view  to  an  agreement  upon  the  place 
which  silver  shall,  or  ought  to,  hold,  in  an  international 
sense,  that  the  United  States  has  requested  a conference  of 
the  nations  of  Europe,  which  conference  will  be  one  of  the 
events  of  1892  and  its  results  will  go  far  toward  simplifying 
the  silver  question  in  this  country. 

SILVER  STATEMENT. 


From  United  States  Mint  Report  for  1891. 


Silver  received  at  Mints,  1891  . . , 

Silver  dollars  coined,  1891 

Silver  dollars  distributed  from  Mints,  1891 

Silver  dollars  in  Mints,  July  1,  1891 

Total  coinage  of  silver  dollars  since  1886  . 


#7L985>985 

36,232,802 

13,208,794 

101,290,755 

4°9,475,368 


258 


THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 


Silver  dollars  held  in  Treasury  for  redemption  of  silver 


certificates 


321,142,642 

294,945.377 

26,197,265 

62,135,461 


Outstanding  silver  certificates 
Excess  of  held  coin  over  certificates  . 
Silver  dollars  in  circulation 


HOW  TO  FIGURE  SILVER  DOLLAR  VALUES. 


Silver  bullion  could  be  bought  May  23,  1892,  for  88  cents 
per  ounce  of  480  grains. 

Divide  480  into  88  and  you  have  .01833  cents,  or  a little 
over  1.8  cents,  as  the  price  of  a grain  of  silver. 

371  of  these  grains  make  a silver  dollar — really  371 

Therefore,  371  multiplied  by  .01833  = 68  cents,  the  cost 
of  the  silver  in  a silver  dollar. 

Now  if  a man  gets  a dollar,  or  100  cents,  for  what  cost 
him  68  cents,  how  much  would  he  get  for  that  ounce  of 
silver  bullion  which  he  deposited  and  which  cost  him  88 
cents  ? 

It  would  stand  as  68  cents  is  to  ioo  cents,  so  is  88  cents 
to  the  answer. 

Answer : — $1,294  per  ounce  for  his  silver  bullion. 


Hon.  Zebulon  B.  Vance. 

Born  in  Buncombe  co.,  N.  C.,  May  13,  1830 ; educated  at  Washington 
College,  Tenn.,  and  at  University  of  North  Carolina;  admitted  to  bar, 
1852,  and  elected  District  Attorney  of  native  co. ; member  of  State  House 
of  Commons,  1854;  member  of  Congress  for  35th  and  36th  Congresses; 
served  as  Colonel  in  Confederate  army ; elected  Governor  of  North 
Carolina,  1862,  and  again  in  1864;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  November, 
1870,  and  refused  admission;  Democratic  candidate  for  U.  S.  Senator  in 
1872,  but  defeated  by  a Democrat  and  Republican  combination;  elected 
Governor  of  State,  1876;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  for  term  beginning 
March,  1879;  re-elected  in  1884  and  1890;  member  of  Committees  on 
District  of  Columbia,  Finance,  Privileges  and  Elections,  etc. 

(*S9)  .. 


THl  ■ ■■■■■* 

f~ ' . ■ • -J 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  — AN  HISTORIC 
REVIEW. 


GENERAL  VIEW. 

The  idea,  or  rather  the  doctrine,  of  reciprocal  trade  is  by 
no  means  new.  As  a principle  it  has  been  long  recognized 
in  this  country.  In  England  it  is  what  is  called  “ Fair 
Trade,”  and  is  upheld  by  a school  of  economists  and  states- 
men who  oppose  “ Free  Trade,”  or  seek  to  escape  from  the 
effects  of  “Free  Trade,”  by  a system  which  shall  not  be 
one-sided  only. 

The  doctrine,  pure  and  simple,  is  this,  if  a nation  does 
not  impose  duties  on  our  goods  entering  its  ports,  we  will 
not  impose  duties  on  its  goods  entering  our  ports ; and  if 
a nation  levies  duties  on  our  goods,  we  will  levy  duty  on 
its  goods. 

This,  say  fair-traders,  is  but  the  doctrine  of  lex  talionis , 
tit-for-tat,  as  applied  to  trade.  This,  say  free-traders,  is  the 
folly  of  imposing  a double  loss  on  ourselves.  Thus,  foreign- 
ers tax  our  products  when  they  enter  their  ports.  This 
imposes  a loss  on  us.  Then,  in  turn,  we  tax  their  products 
when  entering  our  ports.  This  imposes  a second  loss  on  us. 
They  say,  that  for  an  injury  done  us  by  others,  we  fine  our- 
selves. When  others  impoverish  us,  we  respond  by  a system 
of  impoverishment. 

Protectionists  eschew  theories  and  refinements,  and  say 
that  each  country  is  a law  unto  itself  respecting  trade.  All 
prosperous  countries  have  been  built  on  this  principle.  All 
recognize  it  in  one  way  or  another,  whatever  their  outward 
professions,  or  present  economic  leanings.  It  is  but  the 

261 


12 


262 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


duty  of  caring  for  one’s  self.  It  is  but  the  right  t®  live, 
and  to  enjoy  advantages,  if  such  exist. 

COMMERCIAL  TREATIES. 

Reciprocity  has  for  ages  been  established  and  determined 
between  nations  by  means  of  commercial  treaties.  The 
usual  process  has  been  for  two  nations,  about  to  treat,  to 
consult  their  respective  tariff  lists,  and  to  grant  reductions 
of  duties  on  the  class  of  goods  which  they  desire  most  to 
receive  from  each  other.  Equally,  each  country  seeks  to 
secure  the  lowest  rate  of  duty  on  the  class  of  goods  whose 
manufacture  constitutes  its  own  industry,  and  whose  sale 
abroad  it  wishes  to  cultivate.  Thus,  England  makes  the 
best  bargain  she  can  for  the  foreign  sale  of  her  hardware  and 
cottons,  France  for  her  silks  and  wines,  Belgium  for  her 
iron  products,  the  United  States  for  her  flour  and  meat. 
The  free-trade  countries  of  the  world  are  the  most  prolific 
of  reciprocity  treaties,  yet  there  never  was  a reciprocity 
treaty  that  did  not  recognize  the  doctrine  of  protection,  else 
it  would  have  been  of  no  use.  The  essence  of  all  com- 
mercial treaties  is  home-trade  advantage,  home-industry 
advantage,  home-development  advantage,  whether  directly 
by  encouragement  to  labor  and  capital  on  the  spot,  or  in- 
directly by  reason  of  enlarged  markets  abroad. 

Says  Leveleye,  one  of  the  ablest  of  French  Political 
Economists,  and  a pronounced  free-trader : — “ Commercial 
treaties  are  useful  in  assuring  to  industry  what  is  so  essential 
to  it,  the  fixity  of  foreign  customs  dues  throughout  the  period 
embraced  by  the  treaty.  Nowadays  commercial  treaties  are  of 
more  importance  than  political  treaties,  for  it  is  ©n  com- 
meroial  treaties  that  the  progress  of  industry  in  each  country 
iri  a great  measure  depends,  and  also  wfrat  is  no  less  in^ 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


263 


portant,  the  development  of  commercial  relations  and  com- 
munity of  interest  between  different  lands.” 

“most  favored  nation”  clause. 

Very  often  the  parties  to  commercial  treaties  stipulate  that 
each  of  them  shall  enjoy  all  the  advantages  that  may  come 
to,  or  be  secured  by,  the  other  through  a reduction  of  duties 
between  it  and  still  other  countries.  This  has  come  to  be 
known  in  diplomacy  as  “ the  most  favored  nation  clause ,”  a 
term  which  grows  more  familiar  each  year.  It  stands  thus : 
— England  agrees  to  abolish,  or  reduce  to  a minimum,  her 
duties  on  French  silks,  as  a concession  to  France  for  so  re- 
ducing, or  abolishing,  her  duties  on  English  cottons.  But 
at  the  same  time  England  says  to  France,  and  it  is  agreed, 
that  if  you  succeed  in  getting  similar  terms  with  any  other 
country  by  reason  of  a desire  for  your  silks,  we  expect  our 
cottons  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  your  silks.  The  favors 
your  silks  secure  for  you  must  extend  to  our  cottons.  So 
France  says  to  England,  and  it  is  agreed,  that  if  you  succeed 
in  getting  similar  terms  with  any  other  country  by  reason 
of  a desire  for  your  cottons,  we  expect  our  silks  to  follow 
in  the  wake  of  your  cottons.  The  favors  your  cottons 
secure  for  you  must  extend  to  our  silks.  Thus  “ the  most 
favored  nation  clause  ” may  suffice  to  carry  the  favorite  pro- 
duct of  a highly  industrial  and  ingenious  nation,  with  com- 
mercial facilities,  into  every  mart  of  the  world. 

This  extension  of,  and  refinement  on,  the  principle  of 
reciprocity  as  established  by  commercial  treaties,  is  only  an 
enlargement  of  the  spirit  of  advantage  between  nations. 
Clearly,  nothing  is  given  without  something,  and  the  like, 
is  expected.  As  nations  do  not  trade  for  pure  love  of  the 
thing,  something  more  is  expected  than  is  given,  if  not 
directly,  at  least  indirectly.  But  this  is  protection,  says 


264 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


the  protectionist,  for  each  nation  seeks  to  advantage  itself, 
and  it  matters  not  whether  it  proceeds  on  the  principle  of 
denial  or  concession.  Not  so,  says  the  free-trader;  it  is 
free-trade,  for  the  moment  you  concede  the  principle  of 
concession  you  repudiate  that  of  denial,  or,  in  other  words, 
discrimination  by  duties.  And  so  economists  bandy  theories, 
and  prove  to  the  world  that  their  science  is  weightier  in 
words  than  worth. 

But  while  commercial  treaties  have  been  the  usual,  almost 
the  sole,  means  of  establishing  reciprocity,  or  reciprocal 
trade,  between  commercial  nations,  they  have  been  slow  and 
cumbrous  of  formation  and  operation,  and  always  costly  of 
negotiation.  They  have  proved  of  doubtful  construction 
and  uncertain  worth,  except  where  the  inducement  to  make 
them  was  very  great,  and  the  power  to  enforce  them  reposed 
in  the  contracting  parties.  New  and  weak  countries  were 
placed  at  a disadvantage  by  them,  even  if  the  inducement  to 
make  them  existed,  and,  indeed,  no  such  inducement  could 
exist  till  a country  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  have  some- 
thing substantial  to  offer  for  what  it  desired  to  receive. 

POSITION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

As  long  as  the  United  States  was  going  through  its  early 
experiments  with  free-trade  and  protection,  there  was  hardly 
a thought  of  reciprocity  or  reciprocal  trade  as  we  have  come 
to  understand  it.  In  all  the  early  arguments  respecting  the 
advantages  of  protection  by  means  of  duties  on  foreign  im- 
ports, the  central  thought  was  that  protection  was  necessary 
in  order  to  foster  infant  industries.  There  was  hardly  any 
diversity  of  opinion  about  this.  Statesmen  of  all  parties  and 
economic  schools  joined  in  the  thought  and  sought  by 
speech  and  vote  to  establish  the  principle.  Politics  did  not 
seriously  tinge  a tariff  debate  as  long  as  the  idea  was 


M i.llkM 


; .. 


Hon.  Robert  E.  Pattison. 

Born  in  Quantico,  Somerset  co.,  Md.,  December  8,  1850;  moved  to 
Philadelphia  when  young  and  graduated  at  Central  High  School ; 
admitted  to  bar,  1872;  elected  Comptroller  of  Philadelphia,  1877  and 
1880 ; elected  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  on  Democratic  ticket,  1882 ; 
appointed  member  of  Pacific  R.  R.  Commission  by  President  Cleveland, 
1887 ; helped  to  organize  and  became  President  of  Chestnut  Street 
National  Bank ; prominent  member  of  Morning  Record  Co.,  Limited ; 
re-elected  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  on  Democratic  ticket,  1890. 

(266) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


267 


dominant  that  the  infancy  of  industry  required  the  protective 
hand  of  the  Government.  In  this  the  most  pronounced 
free-traders  had  the  sanction  and  support  of  the  English 
economic  writers,  who,  almost  without  exception,  admitted 
the  doctrine  that  in  order  to  establish  and  foster  infant  in- 
dustries, protection  was  right  in  law  and  morals.  England 
had  universally  and  persistently  applied  the  principle,  till 
she  had  grown  rich,  powerful  and  independent  by  means 
of  it. 

It  was  not  until  1824,  when  the  old  arguments  respecting 
the  uses  of  protection  began  to  be  tinged  by  partyism,  that 
attention  began  to  be  turned  seriously  to  the  advantages  of 
reciprocal  trade.  The  country  was  then  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced to  make  it  a question  in  the  minds  of  statesmen. 
Free-traders,  the  very  ones  who  had  all  along  favored  pro- 
tection as  a means  of  fostering  infant  industries,  now  turned 
their  arguments  against  protection  in  general.  The  peculiar 
condition  of  the  country,  divided  into  a strictly  planting 
class,  with  unpaid  labor  at  its  command,  and  a manufactur- 
ing, commercial  and  more  diversified  industrial  class,  with 
only  paid  labor  at  its  command,  contributed  to  the  change 
of  sentiment  and  the  tone  of  argument.  The  planting  class, 
with  its  unpaid  labor,  saw  a menace  in  the  growth  of  manu- 
factures and  commerce,  with  their  paid  labor.  The  system 
of  free,  paid  labor  was  a harsh  contrast  with,  and  a standing 
threat  upon,  the  system  of  slave,  unpaid  labor.  Established 
manufactories  and  profitable  commerce  were  proving  a 
source  of  wealth,  population,  importance  and  comfort,  which 
might  in  the  end  overshadow  the  planting  class  and  its 
geographic  section,  even  if  it  did  not  endanger  the  slave 
institution. 

Therefore  the  free-traders  injected  into  their  opposition  to 
protection  the  argument  that  protection  had  already  done 


268 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


its  legitimate  work  in  grounding  and  fostering  the  young 
industries  of  the  country,  and  was  no  longer  necessary. 
They  said  it  was  a stretch  of  power  any  how  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  and  was  no  longer  justified.  They  said 
that  inasmuch  as  it  could  be  of  no  earthly  use  to  the  plant- 
ing sections,  it  was  unfair  for  the  nation  to  legislate  in  the 
interest  of  the  manufacturing  and  commercial  sections. 
They  attacked  the  constitutionality  of  tariff  legislation.  As 
time  went  on,  and  the  issue  of  slavery  became  more  a mat- 
ter of  question,  the  tariff  debates  brought  out  in  stronger 
lines  the  above  arguments.  The  doctrine  of  free-trade  took 
passionate  and  almost  sectional  turn.  It  came  nearer  than 
ever  to  cleaving  and  dividing  politics.  Calhoun  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  the  further  fostering  of  industries  by 
means  of  protection  would  destroy  the  planting  class  and 
the  institution  of  slavery  ; that  the  object  of  free-trade,  as  he 
advocated  it,  was  to  strike  a blow  at  paid  labor  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  manufacturing  classes ; that  the  tariff  sys- 
tem was  so  unfair,  so  unconstitutional,  such  an  infliction  on 
the  States  of  his  section,  as  to  warrant  nullification  of  tariff 
laws,  and  if  this  did  not  provide  an  escape  from  their  opera- 
tion, then  secession  would  be  justified. 

THE  NEW  PROTECTIVE  IDEA. 

These  arguments  were  so  ably  maintained,  and  the  situa- 
tion became  so  serious,  as  to  force  the  protectionists  on  to 
new  ground.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  their  numbers  or 
ability  to  say  that  they  could  no  longer  maintain  themselves 
on  the  plea  of  protection  to  infant  industries — the  common 
ground  of  all  statesmen  in  the  beginning.  They  were  com- 
pelled, or  perhaps  the  time  had  arrived  for  it,  to  broaden 
their  ground,  and  to  make  it  more  secure  by  a new  declara- 
tion of  protective  principles  by,  one  may  say,  a new  depar- 


RECIPROCITY  iN  AMERICA. 


269 


ture  in  political  economy.  This  became  the  dawn  of  those 
doctrines  which,  elaborated  by  time  and  modified  by  cir- 
cumstances, comprise  American  protection  as  enunciated  by 
modern  statesmen,  and  as  they  seek  to  embody  them  in 
protective  legislation. 

The  gist  of  these  doctrines  is,  that  as  labor  constitutes  a 
very  large  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  an  article,  the  true  meas- 
ure of  protection  is  a duty  which  will  cover  that  element  of 
cost,  and  thus  save  our  labor  from  competition  with  the  low- 
priced  labor  of  foreign  countries.  Along  with  this  goes  the 
doctrine  that  the  free-list  may  safely  embrace  only  those 
articles  which  are  impossible  of  production  with  us  by  rea- 
son of  our  soil,  climate  and  natural  advantages. 

POLICY  OF  SUBSIDY. 

Abreast  of  this  doctrine  is  another,  daily  growing  more 
momentous,  and  one  which  has  been  enforced  by  the  fact 
that  our  genius  and  facilities  tend  to  overcrowding  in  our 
own  markets ; it  is,  that  the  very  best  protection  that  can  be 
afforded  in  such  case  is  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines 
to  carry  our  surplus  products  to  those  who  need  them  most, 
or  to  those  of  whom  we  buy  most  and  to  whom  we  have  to 
pay  most.  This  has  been  a favorite  and  universal  means  of 
protection  with  all  commercial  countries,  and  it  has  been 
employed  at  great  outlay  on  the  part  of  those  countries  in 
the  way  of  pay,  or  subsidy,  to  said  lines,  first  in  order  to 
start  them,  and  second  in  order  to  maintain  them.  But  this 
means  of  protection  has  not  yet  been  reached  in  this  coun- 
try. Subsidy  is  a word  our  people  cannot  yet  abide.  No 
theory  of  protection  that  embodies  the  word  directly  has 
ever  yet  been  framed  in  this  country  that  could  withstand 
the  assaults  of  its  opponents.  The  reason  is  that  it  appeals 
too  directly  to  the  capitalistic  or  monopolistic  spirit  and 


270 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


class.  On  the  part  of  the  government  it  is  too  direct  a kind 
of  paternalism.  As  to  the  recipients,  it  is  too  special  a gift. 
It  is  no  answer  to  all  this,  as  yet,  to  say  that  as  no  other 
commercial  country  ever  succeeded  in  protecting  itself 
through  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines,  except  by 
starting  and  fostering  them  by  subsidies,  so  this  country  has 
not  done,  and  can  never  be  expected  to  do,  the  same  with- 
out the  employment  of  similar  agencies.  Nor  is  it,  as  yet, 
a sufficient  answer  to  say  that  the  word  subsidy  in  this  con- 
nection can  only  be  rendered  offensive  when  narrowed  to 
its  apparent  recipients,  who  really  ought  not  to  be  consid- 
ered at  all,  or,  if  considered,  ought  to  find  their  true  infini- 
tesimal place  in  comparison  with  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
manufactories,  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  laborers  and 
farmers,  and  the  millions  of  capital,  which  an  exit  for  our 
over  products  would  keep  employed. 

POLICY  OF  RECIPROCITY. 

Still  further,  abreast  of  this  doctrine  is  the  policy  of 
reciprocity;  or,  as  we  had  better  say,  the  principle  of 
practical,  or  applied,  reciprocity,  rendered  conspicuous,  as 
formulated  in  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890,  and  adopted  as  a 
measure  of  the  Harrison  Administration.  This  policy  pre- 
sumes that  we  ought  to  have  better  outlet  for  our  manufac- 
tures. It  presumes  that  direct  trade  with  those  from  whom 
we  buy  most  and  to  whom  we  sell  least,  would  be  a most 
desirable  and  advantageous  trade  to  establish,  as  serving  to 
balance  accounts  without  draining  us  of  gold  cash.  It 
presumes  that,  as  to  certain  countries  at  least,  notably 
those  nearest  to  us,  and  especially  those  whose  products 
we  take  largely  and  which  we  cannot  duplicate  at  home, 
we  are  in  a position  to  offer  what  they  require,  of  as  good 
quality  and  on  as  fair  terms,  as  they  can  secure  elsewhere. 


Hon.  William  Alfred  Peffer. 

Born  in  Cumberland  co.,  Pa.,  September  10,  1831 ; educated  in  com- 
mon schools ; engaged  in  teaching  and  farming ; moved  to  Indiana, 
1853,  and  engaged  in  farming;  moved  to  Missouri,  1859,  and  to  Illi- 
nois, 1861 ; enlisted  in  Union  army  and  served  in  Department  of  Nash- 
ville ; studied  law  and  began  practice  in  Clarksville,  Tenn.,  1865 ; 
moved  to  Kansas,  1870,  to  practice  law  and  edit;  elected  to  State 
Senate,  1874;  Republican  elector  in  1880;  editor  of  Kansas  Farmer, 
1881 ; elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as  a People’s  Party  candidate, 
for  term  beginning  March  4,  1891 ; an  exponent  of  the  ideas  advocated 
by  the  Farmer’s  Alliance  and  other  new  parties. 

(272) 


Hon.  Richard  F.  Pettigrew. 


Born  at  Ludlow,  Vermont,  July,  1848;  moved  to  Wisconsin,  1854; 
studied  at  Beloit  College,  1865-66;  member  of  law  class  of  Wisconsin 
University,  1870;  moved  to  Dakota,  1869;  engaged  in  surveying  and 
real  estate  at  Sioux  Falls;  practiced  law  since  1872;  elected  to  Dakota 
Legislature,  1877  and  1879;  elected  Territorial  delegate  to  47th  Con- 
gress; re-elected  to  Legislature,  1884-85;  member  of  South  Dakota 
Constitutional  Convention,  1883 ; elected  U.  S.  Senator,  as  a Republican, 
from  South  Dakota,  October  16,  1889;  chairman  of  Quadro- Centennial 
Committee,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Improvement  of  Mississippi 
River,  Indian  Affairs,  Public  Lands  and  Railroads. 

(273) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


275 


It  presumes  that  inasmuch  as  we  are  sufficiently  advanced 
and  sufficiently  well  off  to  remit  entirely  duties  on  their  pro- 
ducts,— most  of  which  are  necessaries  of  life,  and  hitherto 
subjected  to  duty  for  sheer  purposes  of  revenue, — and  ac- 
tually do  remit  such  duties,  that  they  ought  to  reciprocate 
by  either  abolishing  or  lowering  their  duties  on  articles  we 
send  to  them.  Not  to  do  so  would  be  unreciprocal.  It 
would  be  for  us  to  enlarge  our  inducements  for  their  trade, 
by  removing  duties  upon  it,  and  for  them  to  reject  these 
inducements  by  refusing  to  modify  or  abolish  duties  on  our 
trade. 

COUNTRIES  MOST  INTERESTED. 

It  is  clear  to  every  one  that  the  countries  most  directly 
affected  by  what  may  now  be  called  the  American  policy 
of  reciprocity,  are  those  countries  to  the  south  of  us,  which 
comprise  Mexico,  Central  America  and  South  America. 
To  these  may  be  added  other  countries  whose,  or  any  part 
of  whose,  products  are  as  theirs  are.  This  being  so,  even 
the  casual  student  of  history  will  be  struck  by  a comparison 
of  two  American  continental  epochs  or  eras,  the  one  political , 
the  other  commercial. 

Let  us  take  the  political  one  and  consider  it.  It  began 
in  1787,  the  date  on  which  our  Republican  experiment  was 
launched,  the  date  of  our  Federal  Constitution.  Add  thirty 
years  to  it,  so  as  to  make  it  embrace  a period  up  to  the  date 
of  what  may  be  called  general  and  successful  revolt  against 
Spanish  supremacy  in  South  America,  and  the  establishment 
of  the  South  American  Republics.  Fix  this  date  at  say 
about  the  year  1824.  These  thirty  years,  or  thereabouts, 
saw  the  United  States  engaged  in  finding  a permanent  place 
for  her  political  institutions.  She  was  manfully  meeting  the 
trials  to  which  young  countries  are  subjected,  and  especially 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


276 

those  countries  that  have  been  compelled  to  conquer  their 
independence  by  means  of  war,  and  have  been  bold  enough 
to  dare  a political  experiment  at  odds  with  the  systems,  tra- 
ditions and  instincts  of  the  mother  countries.  She  was 
heroically  and  successfully  passing  through  the  stages — 
many  of  them  severe,  even  to  the  point  of  a second  war — 
which  led  up  to  full  independence,  to  universal  recognition 
of  her  right  to  exist  as  a government  and  nation,  and  to  that 
conspicuous  place  in  the  firmament  of  Western  Republics, 
which  made  her  a cynosure  in  the  eyes  of  all. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  period  what  did  she  find  ? The 
entire  continent  to  the  south  of  her  was  Spanish.  Spanish 
political  domination  was  complete  as  it  could  be,  all  things 
considered.  Then  came  the  gradual  breaking  away  from 
foreign  and  monarchical  moorings,  under  the  lead  of  brave 
generals,  like  Bolivar,  under  the  influence  of  enlarged  ideas 
of  freedom,  under  the  inspiration  furnished  by  the  success 
of  the  northern  experiment. 

So  busy  had  the  United  States  been  with  her  own  exper- 
iment, that  she  had  not  had  time  to  more  than  note  what 
was  going  on  to  the  south  of  her.  Her  own  expanse  was 
so  ample,  her  resources  so  sufficient,  her  thought  so  dis- 
tinctive, as  that  political  confederacy  on  the  continent  had 
not  occurred  to  her,  or  at  least  had  taken  no  definite  shape. 
Neither  had  political  co-operation,  or,  in  other  words,  polit- 
ical reciprocity,  taken  even  vague  shape.  Sympathy  existed 
for  every  effort  looking  to  the  breaking  of  the  Spanish  yoke. 
Indirect  encouragement  was  offered  to  the  erection  of  every 
republican  temple  founded  on  the  ashes  of  European  mon- 
archy. But  that  was  all,  until  the  time  should  come  when, 
her  own  political  destiny  being  assured,  and  a new  order  of 
statesmen  having  arisen,  the  Republic  of  the  North  could 
afford  to  recognize  in  a more  direct  manner  those  of  the  South. 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


277 


POLITICAL  INTEREST  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  SOUTH  AMER- 
ICAN REPUBLICS. 

It  was  in  1808  that  the  interference  of  Napoleon  with  the 
affairs  of  Spain  enabled  the  South  American  republics  to 
rejoice  in  the  assurance  of  their  own  autonomy.  But  a long 
struggle  was  necessary  in  order  to  establish  the  independ- 
ence they  hoped  for.  For  twenty  years  they  looked  vainly 
for  succor  or  approval  from  European  monarchies.  They 
had  been  all  along  looking  to  the  Republic  of  the  North, 
and  copying  her  splendid  example.  They  now  began  to 
look  for  substantial  recognition,  and  they  found  in  Henry 
Clay  their  earliest  and  ablest  champion.  In  1818  Mr.  Clay 
made  a passionate  appeal  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  their  recognition,  and  in  the  same  year  the  condition  of 
the  South  American  provinces  became  a subject  of  consid- 
eration at  a cabinet  meeting,  James  Monroe  being  President. 
Four  years  afterwards,  the  recognition  they  sought  from  the 
United  States  came,  and  it  was  soon  followed  by  recognition 
on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  In  the  next  year,  1823,  Pres- 
ident Monroe,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  and  in  discussing 
the  relation  of  foreign  powers  toward  those  on  the  Ameri- 
can Continent,  said : 

“ In  wars  of  European  powers,  in  matters  relating  to 
themselves,  we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  com- 
port with  our  policy  to  do  so.  It  is  only  when  our  rights 
are  invaded  or  seriously  menaced  that  we  resent  injuries  or 
make  preparation  for  our  defence.  With  the  movements  in 
this  hemisphere  we  are  of  necessity  more  immediately  con- 
nected, and  by  causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  enlight- 
ened and  impartial  observers.  The  political  system  of  the 
allied  powers  (of  Europe)  is  essentially  different  in  this 
respect  from  that  of  America.  This  difference  proceeds 
from  that  which  exists  in  their  respective  governments. 


27B 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


And  to  the  defence  of  our  own  which  has  been  achieved  by 
the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the 
wisdom  of  our  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under  which 
we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity,  this  whole  nation,  is 
devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  ami- 
cable relations  subsisting  between  the  United  States  and 
those  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt 
on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hem- 
isphere as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With  the  ex- 
isting colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European  power  we 
have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the 
governments  who  have  declared  their  independence  and 
maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great 
consideration  and  on  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could 
not  view  any  interposition,  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them , 
or  controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny , by  any  Eu- 
ropean pozver,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of 
an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States!' 

This  was  the  “ Monroe  Doctrine ; ” this  the  note  of  warn- 
ing, to  monarchical  Europe  to  keep  hands  off  the  political 
destiny  of  a Continent.  It  was  of  this  doctrine  that  Daniel 
Webster,  in  a speech  in  the  House,  April,  1826,  upon  the 
subject  of  an  appropriation  to  send  a mission  from  the 
United  States  to  the  South  American  Congress  at  Panama, 
said : 

“ I look  on  the  message  of  December,  1823,  as  forming  a 
bright  page  in  our  history.  I will  neither  help  to  erase  it 
or  tear  it  out,  nor  shall  it  by  any  act  of  mine  be  blurred  or 
blotted.  It  did  honor  to  the  sagacity  of  the  government, 
and  I will  not  diminish  that  honor.  It  elevated  the  hopes 
and  gratified  the  patriotism  of  the  people.  Over  those  hopes 
I will  not  bring  a mildew,  nor  will  I put  that  gratified  patri- 
otism to  shame.” 


Hon.  William  Walter  Phelps. 

Born  in  New  York  City,  August  24,  1839  ; graduated  at  Yale,  I860; 
and  at  Columbia  Law  School,  1863;  entered  practice  and  became 
attorney  for  several  R.  R.  Co’s;  elected  to  Congress,  from  New  Jersey, 
in  1872  as  a Republican;  rose  to  distinction  as  a debater  and  leader; 
defeated  for  second  term  ; delegate-at-large  from  New  Jersey  in  National 
Conventions  of  1880-84;  appointed  minister  to  Austria  by  President 
Garfield  ; re-elected  to  48th,  49th  and  50th  Congresses  ; conspicuous  for 
interest  in  tariff,  merchant  marine  and  foreign  affairs;  fine  orator  and 
party  counsellor  ; Regent  of  Smithsonian  Institution  ; President  of  Colum- 
bia Law  School  Association ; founder  of  N.  Y.  Union  League  and  Uni- 
versity clubs;  appointed  Minister  to  Germany  by  President  Harrison. 

(279) 


THE  liltfUM 

, m - H ? 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


281 


CONGRESS  OF  REPUBLICS. 

In  1821  the  Republic  of  Colombia  suggested  the  idea  of 
a closer  connection  between  the  Spanish  colonies  in  Central 
and  South  America.  In  July,  1822,  and  before  their  inde- 
pendence had  been  recognized  by  the  United  States,  Colom- 
bia and  Chili  negotiated  a treaty  looking  to  a Congress  of 
the  new  Republics,  resembling  the  one  already  constructed 
in  Europe  (The  Holy  Alliance,  which  was  an  attempt  to 
fetter  all  Europe  with  absolute  monarchy),  and  having  for 
its  object  “The  construction  of  a continental  system  for 
America.” 

The  idea  ripened  slowly,  though  it  was  sedulously  cher- 
ished by  Bolivar  and  other  leaders,  Bolivar  being  then  at 
the  head  of  the  Republic  of  Peru.  It  was  not  until  De- 
cember 7,  1824,  that  he  issued  his  invitation  to  the  Repub- 
lics south  of  us,  to  meet  in  conference  at  Panama.  Most 
of  them  accepted,  and  the  “ General  Assembly  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republics  ” met  at  Panama,  June  22,  1826. 

What  was  singular  about  this  Congress  or  General  As- 
sembly was  that  it  was  no  part  of  Bolivar’s  design  to  invite 
the  United  States  to  participate.  The  Republics  of  South 
America  had  abolished  African  slavery  in  1813.  Doubtless 
Bolivar  felt  that  the  interest  which  the  United  States  had  at 
that  time  in  preserving  and  extending  slavery  would  tend  to 
embarrass  her  acceptance  of  an  invitation,  or  make  her  an 
unwelcome,  if  not  dangerous,  participant.  The  invitation  to 
the  United  States  came  from  Colombia  and  Mexico,  after  an 
inquiry  through  Mr.  Clay  as  to  whether  it  would  be  accep- 
table to  President  Adams.  Mr.  Adams  was  so  far  satisfied 
as  that  he  appointed  two  representatives  to  the  Congress  or 
Conference,  subject  to  the  “ advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate.” 

In  his  message  to  the  Senate,  Mr.  Adams  gave  among 


282 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


other  reasons  for  his  action  the  following,  which  is  valuable 
in  this  connection  as  showing  the  dawn  of  the  idea  that 
mutual  commercial  intercourse  with  the  South  American 
States  might  well  become  a subject  of  consideration  in  such 
a conference  as  that  proposed.  He  said : 

“ But  the  South  American  nations,  in  the  infancy  of  their 
independence,  often  find  themselves  in  positions  with  refer- 
ence to  other  countries,  with  principles  applicable  to  which, 
derivable  from  the  state  of  independence  itself,  they  have 
not  been  familiarized  by  experience.  The  result  of  this  has 
been  that  sometimes  in  their  intercourse  with  the  United 
States  they  have  manifested  dispositions  to  reserve  a right 
of  granting  special  favors  and  privileges  to  the  Spanish  na- 
tion as  the  price  of  their  recognition ; at  others,  they  have 
actually  established  duties  and  impositions  operating  unfavor- 
ably to  the  United  States , to  the  advantage  of  European  pow- 
ers ; and  sometimes  they  have  appeared  to  consider  that 
they  might  interchange  among  themselves  mutual  conces- 
sions of  exclusive  favor,  to  which  neither  European  powers 
nor  the  United  States  should  be  admitted.  In  most  of  these 
cases  their  regulations  unfavorable  to  us  have  yielded  to 
friendly  expostulation  and  remonstrance ; but  it  is  believed 
to  be  of  infinite  moment  that  the  principles  of  a liberal  com- 
mercial intercourse  should  be  exhibited  to  them  and  urged 
with  interested  and  friendly  persuasion  upon  them,  when 
all  are  assembled  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  consulting 
together  upon  the  establishment  of  such  principles 
as  may  have  an  important  bearing  upon  their  future  wel- 
fare." 

The  debate  in  the  Senate  upon  the  proposed  mission  was 
exceedingly  acrimonious.  Serious  charges  were  brought 
against  President  Adams,  and  the  policy  and  purposes  of 
his  administration  were  denounced  as  dangerous.  It  was 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


283 

declared  that  the  mission  would  lead  to  international  com- 
plications. The  slave-holding  members  affirmed  that  in 
reference  to  the  rest  of  America,  as  well  as  to  Europe, 
slavery  must  be  and  remain  the  prime  motive  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  the  United  States,  and  they  said  that  they  saw  in 
the  conference  peril  to  their  “peculiar  institutions/’  for  the 
history  of  these  Southern  Republics  as  to  slavery  furnished 
an  example  “scarcely  less  fatal  than  the  independence  of 
Hayti  to  the  repose  of  the  slave  States  of  the  Union.’’ 
They  had  not  only  copied  from  the  revolutionary  records  of 
the  United  States  the  words  “freedom,”  “equality”  and 
“ universal  emancipation,”  but  had  actually  broken  the 
chains  of  all  slaves. 

THE  COMMERCIAL  THOUGHT  UPPERMOST. 

The  defenders  of  the  proposed  mission  and  of  the  Presi- 
dent’s action  made  many  elaborate  arguments  for  their  side, 
all  of  which  embraced  in  some  form  the  idea  of  more  ex- 
tended and  intimate  commercial  intercourse,  upon  the  basis 
of  mutual  or  reciprocal  trade.  When  Mr.  Adams  was  asked 
by  the  House  for  further  information  respecting  his  view 
and  his  action  he  responded  in  a lengthy  message,  in  which 
he  said  : — 

“ The  first  and  paramount  principle  upon  which  it  was 
deemed  wise  and  just  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  all  our 
future  relations  with  them  was  disinterestedness;  the  next 
was  cordial  good  will  to  them  ; the  third  was  a claim  of  fair 
and  equal  reciprocity .” 

Then  in  further  allusion  to  the  commercial  idea  he  said  : — 

“ It  will  be  within  the  recollection  of  the  House  that  im- 
mediately after  our  War  of  Independence  a measure  closely 
analogous  to  this  Congress  of  Panama  was  adopted  by  the 
Congress  of  our  Confederation  and  for  purposes  of  precisely 


284 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


the  same  character.  Three  commissioners  with  plenipoten- 
tiary powers  were  appointed  to  negotiate  treaties  of  amity, 
navigation  and  commerce  with  all  the  principal  powers  of 
Europe.  They  met  and  resided  at  Paris  for  one  year,  for 
that  purpose,  and  the  only  result  of  their  negotiations  was 
our  first  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Prussia, 
memorable  in  the  diplomatic  annals  of  the  world  and  pre- 
cious as  a monument  of  principles  in  relation  to  commerce 
and  maritime  warfare,  with  which  our  country  entered  upon 
her  career  as  a member  of  the  great  family  of  independent 
nations.” 

In  the  Senate,  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  reported 
against  the  expediency  of  sending  ministers  to  the  -Panama 
Congress,  but  afterwards,  and  very  grudgingly,  approved  the 
President’s  selection.  The  House,  after  long  delay,  agreed 
to  appropriate  the  necessary  funds.  The  ministers  were 
sent,  but  delay  had  done  its  designed  work.  They  were  too 
late  for  the  Conference,  which  had  adjourned  previous  to 
their  arrival.  Mr.  Clay,  then  Secretary  of  State,  was  much 
mortified  at  the  failure,  and  the  President,  in  1829,  in  allud- 
ing to  the  failure  said  to  the  Senate  : — “ While  there  is  no 
probability  of  the  renewal  of  the  negotiations,  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  intended  are  still  of  the  deepest  inter- 
est to  our  country  and  to  the  world , and  may , hereafter , call 
again  for  the  active  energies  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.” 

It  might  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  know  that 
the  South  and  Central  American  Republics  continued  to 
hold  conferences  for  consideration  and  adjustment  of  their 
affairs  and  the  unification  of  their  interests.  One  was  held 
at  Lima  in  1847,  another  in  1864,  another  was  proposed  at 
Panama  in  1881,  which  was  prevented  by  the  South  Amer- 
ican wars,  and  another  was  held  at  Montevideo  in  1888-89. 


Tm  imm 


: 5 


Hon.  Thomas  C.  Power. 


Born  near  Dubuque,  Iowa,  May  22,  1839 ; educated  at  Sinsinewa 
College,  Wis.,  in  engineering;  with  surveying  party  in  Dakota,  1860; 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  on  Missouri  river;  located  at  Fort  Ben- 
ton, 1867 ; President  of  “Benton  P”  line  of  steamers;  largely  inter- 
ested in  mines,  cattle  and  mercantile  companies;  moved  to  Helena  in 
1878;  member  of  Montana  Constitutional  Convention,  1883 ; delegate 
to  Republican  National  Convention,  1888;  nominated  for  Governor  of 
State,  1889,  on  Republican  ticket,  and  defeated;  elected  to  United 
States  Senate,  as  Republican,  January  2,  1890 ; Chairman  of  Civil  Ser- 
vice Committee;  member  of  Committees  on  Improvements  of  Missis- 
sippi River,  Indian  Affairs,  Public  Lands,  Railroads. 

(286) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


287 


The  United  States  was  not  represented  in  any  of  them. 
The  era  of  our  political  influence  upon  these  Republics, 
whether  by  example,  or  by  the  encouragement  extended  in 
the  “ Monroe  Doctrine,”  or  by  the  comity  intended  by  Mr. 
Adams,  had  ended  with  their  freedom  from  monarchical 
yoke  and  the  assurance  that  they  were  forever  committed 
to  the  Republican  spirit. 

COMMERCIAL  BONDAGE  OF  THE  REPUBLICS. 

But  singular  as  it  may  seem  that  political  freedom  was 
followed  by  commercial  bondage.  Commercial  Europe  set 
her  head  for  conquest,  and  with  her  immense  facilities  over- 
ran the  marts  from  which  the  Spanish  warships  had  been 
driven.  This  invasion  has  become  well  nigh  complete. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  era  above  mentioned — the 
commercial.  We  have  seen  how  the  end  of  the  political 
era  witnessed  the  dawn  of  the  idea  of  commercial  reciproc- 
ity with  the  Southern  Republics.  The  idea  lay  dormant, 
so  far  as  the  United  States  was  concerned,  through  the 
period  devoted  to  working  out  its  own  industrial  and  com- 
mercial independence.  The  industrial  and  commercial  pe- 
riod from  1824  to  i860  may  be  likened  to  the  political 
period  prior  to  the  Revolution.  The  industrial  and  com- 
mercial period  from  1861  to  the  present  may  be  likened 
to  the  political  period  from  1787  to  1824,  each  of  these  pe- 
riods being  considered  with  reference  to  our  relations  to  the 
Southern  Republics.  Strange  to  say,  the  above  period  from 
1861  to  the  present  corresponds  in  length  with  the  period 
from  1787  to  1824,  at  whose  end  we  took  political  cogniz- 
ance of  these  Republics  and  witnessed  their  freedom  from 
European  monarchy. 

The  settlement  of  our  sectional  differences  by  civil  war, 
the  establishment  of  a system  of  finance  which  gives  us 
13 


288 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


rank  among  the  nations,  the  practice  of  protection  which 
made  us  industrially  and  commercially  independent,  brings 
us  to  a point  of  time  when  our  example  and  influence  must 
affect  the  countries  of  our  continent  to  the  south  of  us  in  a 
commercial  sense,  just  as  they  were  affected  in  a political 
sense.  If  their  commercial  subjugation  by  Europe  is  as 
complete  as  was  their  political  subjugation  by  Spain,  and 
their  independence  as  desirable,  they  may  well  look  once 
more  to  us  for  something  which  in  commerce  shall  be  the 
equivalent  of  the  “ Monroe  Doctrine  ” in  politics.  We  are 
in  a position  to  extend  it,  at  least  that  is  the  significance  of 
practical  reciprocity. 


A PEACE  CONGRESS. 

What  President  Adams  called  “ the  deepest  interests 
of  our  country,”  and  what  he  prophesied  might  “ hereafter 
call  again  for  the  active  energies  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,”  began  its  culmination  with  the  invitation  of 
President  Garfield  for  all  the  independent  governments  of 
North  and  South  America  to  meet  in  a Peace  Congress  at 
Washington.  It  has  been  given  out  that  he  aimed  at  some- 
thing more  than  a mere  code  of  arbitration  in  case  of  dis- 
putes which  might  lead  to  war*  among  American  states, 
and  that  he  contemplated  making  commercial  reciprocity  a 
leading  feature  of  his  administration.  His  death  frustrated 
his  design. 

A MORE  COMMERCIAL  THOUGHT. 

President  Garfield’s  invitation  was  recalled  by  President 
Arthur  in  order  that  the  Congress  might  be  given  opportu- 
nity to  consider  the  advisability  of  the  step.  Just  as  soon 
as  the  Congress  began  to  deliberate  upon  the  matter,  the 
subject  took  wider  and  wider  range,  and  the  idea  of  recip- 
rocal commerce  became  a conspicuous  feature.  On  Jam 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


289 


uary  21,  1880,  Senator  Davis  of  Illinois  first  threw  his 
suggestion  of  an  “ International  American  Conference  ” into 
a Senate  Bill  in  which  occurred  the  following  words  : — 

“ Whereas  from  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  also  the  Republic  of 
Chile,  a distance  of  about  4,500  miles,  including  Mexico, 
Central  America,  Colombia,  Venezuela,  Peru,  Ecuador, 
Brazil,  Bolivia,  Paraguay  and  Uruguay,  containing  a popu- 
lation of,  in  all,  about  40,000,000  industrious  and  progressive 
people,  with  whom  ":he  United  States  hold,  and  d:cire  to 
maintain,  the  most  frendly  relations,  and  with  whom  a 
closer  and  reciprocal  interest  in  trade  and  commerce  ought 
to  be  encouraged,”  etc. 

The  Davis  proposition  looked  to  this  “ closer  and  recip- 
rocal interest  in  trade  and  commerce  ” by  means  of  a great 
southern  railroad  connecting  the  three  Americas. 

On  April  24,  1882,  Senator  Cockrell,  of  Missouri,  intro- 
duced into  the  Senate  a bill  similar  to  the  above,  whose 
object  was  the  “ appointment  of  a special  commissioner  for 
promoting  intercourse  with  such  countries  of  Central  and 
South  America  as  may  be  found  to  possess  natural  facilities 
for  railway  communication  with  each  other  and  with  the 
United  States.” 

On  the  same  date,  April  24,  1882,  Senator  Morgan,  of 
Alabama,  introduced  a kindred  bill,  “ for  the  encouragement 
of  closer  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  the  Empire 
of  Brazil  and  the  several  Republics  of  South  America.” 

Similar  bills  were  introduced  into  the  House,  all  looking 
to  “ the  promotion  of  commercial  intercourse  ” with  the 
countries  to  the  south  of  us,  all  of  which  were  reported 
adversely  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs. 

In  1883  Senator  Sherman  reintroduced  into  the  Senate 


290 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


the  Morgan  Bill  of  1882.  In  the  first  session  of  the  Forty- 
eighth  Congress,  Mr.  Townsend,  of  Illinois,  introduced  a 
joint  resolution,  “ inviting  the  co-operation  of  the  Govern- 
ments of  American  nations  in  securing  the  establishment  of 
free  commercial  intercourse  among  those  nations  and  an 
American  Customs’  Union.” 

On  March  3,  1884,  Senator  Cockrell  introduced  a Senate 
bill  authorizing  a commission  to  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ica “ for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  looking  to 
the  extension  of  American  trade  and  commerce,”  etc.  This 
bill  was  reported  favorably  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs. 

Before  taking  action  on  this  bill,  the  Committee  on  For- 
eign Affairs  of  the  Senate  requested  the  views  of  Mr.  Fre- 
linghuysen,  Secretary  of  State,  as  to  the  proposed  legisla- 
tion. He  reviewed  the  entire  question  very  fully  in  his 
reply  of  March  26,  1884,  and  fully  set  forth  the  advantages 
of  reciprocity  with  these  countries.  His  arguments  pointed 
directly  to  reciprocity  as  a necessity,  in  case  duties  were 
greatly  lowered,  or  entirely  removed,  on  the  products  of 
these  countries. 

“ I am,”  said  he,  “ thoroughly  convinced  of  the  advisa- 
bility of  knitting  closely  our  relations  with  the  States  of 
this  Continent,  and  no  effort  on  my  part  shall  be  wanting  to 
accomplish  a result  so  consonant  with  the  constant  policy 
of  this  country  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
which,  in  excluding  foreign  political  interference,  recognizes 
the  common  interest  of  the  States  of  North  and  South 
America.  It  is  the  history  of  all  diplomacy  that  close  po- 
litical relations  and  friendship  spring  from  unity  of  com- 
mercial interests 

The  true  plan,  it  seems  to  me,  is  to  make  a series  of  reci- 
procity treaties  with  the  States  of  Central  and  South 


THE  iiKHHr 


Hon.  Redfield  Proctor. 

Born  at  Proctorsville,  Vermont,  June  1,  1831 ; graduated  from  Dart- 
mouth, 1851,  and  from  Albany  Law  School  in  1859;  practiced  law 
in  Boston;  served  in  Army  1861-63 ; rose  to  be  Colonel  of  Fifteenth 
Vermont  Volunteers ; returned  to  practice  of  law;  elected  to  Assembly, 
1867-68;  again,  1888;  served  in  State  Senate,  1874-76;  elected  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, 1876;  advanced  to  Governor,  1878 ; delegate-at-large 
to  Republican  National  Conventions,  1884,  1888 ; appointed  Secretary 
of  War  by  President  Harrison,  1889;  resigned  November  1,  1891,  to 
take  place  of  Senator  Edmunds  in  United  States  Senate;  a man  of  pro- 
nounced Republican  views,  high  standing  as  lawyer  and  statesman,  ripe 
business  experience,  and  great  popularity  with  his  people. 

(2g2) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


293 


America,  taking  care  that  those  manufactures,  and  as  far  as 
is  practicable  those  products,  which  would  come  into  com- 
petition with  our  own  manufactures  and  products  should 
not  be  admitted  to  the  free  list.  By  these  treaties  we  might 
secure  for  valuable  consideration  so  as  not  to  violate  the 
most-favored-nation  clause  of  other  treaties,  further  substan- 
tial advantages.  Such,  for  example,  as  the  free  navigation 
of  their  coasts,  rivers  and  lakes. 

“ Indiscriminate  reduction  of  duties  on  materials  pecu- 
liarly the  production  of  Central  and  South  America  would 
take  from  us  the  ability  to  offer  reciprocity,  and  we  would 
thus  lose  the  opportunity  to  secure  valuable  trade.  Re- 
moval of  duties  from  coffee,  without  greatly  cheapening  its 
price,  deprived  us  of  the  power  to  negotiate  with  the  coffee- 
growing countries  of  Spanish-America  highly  advantageous 
reciprocity  treaties,  and  indiscriminate  reduction  of  duties 
on  sugar  would  complete  our  inability  to  establish  favorable 
commercial  relations  with  those  countries  which  form  our 
natural  market,  and  from  which  we  are  now  almost  entitely 
excluded.  If  we  confine  the  reduction  of  duties  on  such 
articles  as  sugar  and  coffee  to  those  Spanish-American  coun- 
tries which  are  willing  to  negotiate  with  us  treaties  of  reci- 
procity, we  cheapen  these  products  for  our  own  people  and 
at  the  same  time  gain  the  control  of  those  markets  for  the 
products  of  our  fields  and  factories.” 

STARTLING  REVELATIONS. 

The  report  of  the  House  Committee,  to  which  two  of  the 
above  bills  had  been  referred,  was  most  elaborate  and  con- 
tained some  startling  revelations  as  to  trade  with  these 
countries.  It  showed  their  total  commerce  in  1883  to  be 
$752,918,00 o,  in  which  the  United  States  participated  only 
to  the  extent  of  $142,282,000.  It  showed  that  their  imports 


294 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


to  the  United  States  amounted  for  that  year  to  $93,319,000, 
whereas  we  sent  in  turn  to  them  only  $48,963,000.  It 
quoted  from  the  work  of  a recent  commercial  traveller 
through  those  States,  to  this  effect : 

“ It  always  grieved  me  exceedingly,  and  was  particularly 
offensive  to  my  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things,  to  find  almost 
everything  in  the  way  of  foreign  merchandise,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  my  routes,  of  European  manufacture. 
At  different  points  along  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  in 
many  cities  of  the  plains,  in  various  towns  on  the  mountain 
slopes,  on  the  apex  of  Potosi  and  on  the  tops  of  other  An- 
dean peaks  higher  than  Mount  Hood,  I have  gone  into 
stores  and  warehouses  and  looked  in  vain — utterly  in  vain — 
for  one  single  article  of  American  manufacture.  From  the 
little  pin  with  which  the  lady  fastens  her  beau-catching 
ribbons  to  the  grand  piano  with  which  she  enlivens  and 
enchants  the  hearts  of  all  her  household ; from  the  tiniest 
thread  and  tack  and  tool  needed  in  the  mechanic  arts  to  the 
largest  plows  and  harrows  and  other  agricultural  implements 
and  machines  required  for  use  on  the  farm — all  these  and 
other  things,  the  wares  and  fabrics  and  light  groceries  and 
delicacies  in  common  demand ; the  drugs  and  chemicals  sold 
by  the  apothecary ; the  fermented,  malt  and  spirituous  liq- 
uors in  the  wine  saloon ; the  stationery  and  fancy  goods  in 
the  book-store ; the  furniture  in  the  parlor  and  the  utensils 
in  the  kitchen,  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  of  English,  German, 
Spanish,  or  Italian  manufacture.  And  what  makes  the 
matter  still  more  unsatisfactory  and  vexatious  to  the  North 
American  and  more  expensive  and  otherwise  disadvantageous 
to  the  South  American,  is  that  these  articles  are,  as  a gen- 
eral rule,  inferior  both  in  material  and  make  to  the  corre- 
sponding article  of  American  manufacture.” 

The  report  favored  the  appointment  of  a commission  to 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


295 


these  countries.  A bill  authorizing  such  commission  was 
passed,  and  George  H.  Sharpe,  New  York,  Solon  O.  Thacher, 
Kansas,  and  Thomas  C.  Reynolds,  Missouri,  were  appointed 
Commissioners,  with  Mr.  W.  E.  Curtis  as  Secretary.  They 
sat  in  our  principal  cities,  visited  the  countries  of  Central 
and  South  America,  and  made  valuable  reports  from  time  to 
time. 

On  December  21,  1885,  Mr.  Townsend,  of  Illinois,  rein- 
troduced his  resolution  into  the  House,  looking  to  an  Amer- 
ican Customs’  Union.  It  was  reported  adversely,  as  was  a 
bill  providing  for  international  arbitration.  The  same  fatal- 
ity befell  similar  bills  in  the  Senate. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  THOUGHT. 

On  February  22,  1886,  Senator  Frye,  of  Maine,  intro- 
duced an  elaborate  bill  into  the  Senate  “ to  promote  the 
political  progress  and  commercial  prosperity  of  the  United 
States.”  It  provided  for  an  American  International  Con- 
gress at  Washington  on  October  1,  1887,  and  suggested  a 
list  of  subjects  to  be  considered,  which  list  embraced : 

1.  Measures  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

2.  An  American  Customs’  Union. 

3.  Regular  and  frequent  steamship  lines. 

4.  Uniform  system  of  customs  regulations. 

5.  Uniform  weights  and  measures. 

6.  A common  silver  coin. 

7.  A definite  plan  of  arbitration. 

On  March  29,  1 886,  Mr.  McCreary,  of  Kentucky,  intro- 
duced in  the  House  a bill  “ authorizing  the  President  to 
arrange  a conference  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  peace- 
ful and  reciprocal  commercial  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  the  Central  American  and  South  Amer- 


296 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


ican  States.”  On  the  same  day  Mr.  McKinley,  of  Ohio, 
introduced  a bill  favoring  an  Arbitration  Conference. 

On  April  15,  1886,  Mr.  McCreary,  of  Kentucky,  reported 
his  bill  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  with  a com- 
plete text  and  favorable  report.  It  provided  for  an  Inter- 
national Conference  at  Washington,  and  for  “ considering 
questions  relating  to  the  improvement  of  business  inter- 
course between  said  countries,  and  to  encourage  such  recip- 
rocal commercial  relations  as  will  be  beneficial  to  all  and 
secure  more  extensive  markets  for  the  products  of  each  of 
said  countries.” 

NECESSITY  FOR  RECIPROCAL  TRADE. 

The  report  of  the  majority  of  the  committee  accompa- 
nying this  bill  was  a very  able  one,  and  particularly  valuable 
as  a matter  of  economic  and  commercial  history,  and  as 
coming  from  a committee  not  regarded  as  favorable  to  the 
reciprocity  idea. 

The  report  set  forth  among  other  things : 

“The  subject  of  establishing  closer  international  relations 
between  all  the  Republics  of  the  American  continent  and 
also  the  Empire  of  Brazil,  containing  in  the  aggregate  one 
hundred  millions  of  people,  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
the  business  intercourse  between  those  countries  and  secur- 
ing more  extensive  markets  for  the  products  of  each,  is  both 
interesting  and  important.  Sixty  years  ago  this  subject 
was  discussed  and  a conference  was  suggested  between  rep- 
resentatives of  our  Government  and  the  other  Governments, 
and  President  John  Quincy  Adams  appointed  representa- 
tives to  the  Congress  held  at  Panama  to  consider  measures 
for  promoting  peace  and  reciprocal  commercial  relations 
between  said  countries.  This  Conference  was  beneficial, 
but  at  that  time  our  people  were  looking  more  to  Europe 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


297 


for  business  and  commerce  than  to  the  countries  south  of 
us,  and  no  action  was  taken  by  our  Congress.  Now  the 
United  States  is  at  peace  with  all  the  world  and  our  popu- 
lation and  wealth  make  this  the  foremost  Republic  of  the 
world,  and  our  Government  should  inaugurate  the  move- 
ment in  favor  of  an  American  Conference. 

" The  present  depression  of  business  and  low  price  of 
farm  products  are  caused,  to  a considerable  extent,  by  a 
limited  market  for  our  surplus  products.  Some  of  the  best 
markets  we  can  look  to  are  not  far  beyond  our  southern 
border.  They  are  nearer  to  us  than  to  any  other  commer- 
cial nation.  The  people  of  Mexico  and  of  Central  and 
South  America  produce  much  that  we  need,  and  our  abun- 
dant agricultural,  manufactured,  and  mineral  productions 
are  greatly  needed  by  them.  These  countries  cover  an  area 
of  8,118,844  square  miles,  and  have  a population  of  42,- 
770,374.  Their  people  recognize  the  superiority  of  our 
products,  and  desire  more  intimate  business  intercourse 
with  our  people,  but  the  great  bulk  of  their  commerce  and 
trade  is  with  Europe.  The  Argentine  Republic  has  from 
forty-five  to  sixty  steamships  running  regularly  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  European  ports,  and  no  regular  line  be- 
tween that  country  and  the  United  States,  and  our  commer- 
cial facilities  with  the  other  republics  of  Central  and  South 
America  are  about  the  same. 

“ In  1884  our  exports  were  valued  at  $733,768,764. 

“ Of  this  amount  we  exported  but  $64,719,000  to  Mexico 
and  South  and  Central  America. 

“ Our  annual  mechanical  and  agricultural  products  are 
valued  at  $15,000,000,000,  while  we  seldom  have  sold  more 
than  $75,000,000  worth  of  these  products  to  our  nearest 
neighbors,  who  buy  in  Europe  at  least  five  times  as  much 
as  they  get  here. 


298 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


“The  total  commerce  of  the  countries  named  in  1883 
was  as  follows  : Imports,  $331,100,599;  exports,  #391,294,- 
781. 

“ Of  the  $331,100,599  of  merchandise  sold  to  those  coun- 
tries, the  share  of  the  United  States  was  only  $42,598,469; 
yet  we  are  their  closest  neighbor. 

“ The  disparity  of  our  trade  with  Peru,  Chili,  Argentine 
Republic  and  Brazil  is  both  amazing  and  humiliating. 


To 

From  Great 
Britain. 

From  United 
States. 

Peru 

$743,105 

Chili 

2,211,007 

Argentine  Republic 

4,317,293 

Brazil 

...  33>946, 21 5 

7»3I7»293 

“ The  consumption  of  cotton  goods  in  Central  and  South 
America  and  in  Mexico  amounts  to  nearly  $100,000,000  an- 
nually, and  although  they  are  so  near  our  cotton-fields, 
England  furnishes  about  95  per  cent,  of  these  goods. 

“ Cotton  fabrics  constitute  the  wearing  apparel  of  nearly 
three-fourths  of  those  people,  and  they  have  to  import  all 
they  use. 

“ England  monopolizes  this  trade  because  of  her  cheap 
transportation  facilities,  and  because  her  mills  furnish  goods 
especially  adapted  to  the  wants  and  tastes  of  the  consumers, 
which  our  mills  have  never  attempted  to  produce. 

“ It  is  very  important  that  transportation  facilities  between 
the  United  States  and  her  southern  neighbors  should  be  im- 
proved ; for  as  long  as  the  freight  from  Liverpool,  Hamburg 
and  Bordeaux  is  $15  a ton,  they  cannot  be  induced  to  pay 
$40  a ton  to  bring  merchandise  from  the  United  States. 

“ There  is  not  a commercial  city  in  these  countries  where 
the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  cannot  compete  with 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  29$ 

their  European  rivals  in  every  article  we  produce  for  ex- 
port. 

“ The  report  of  the  South  American  Commission  shows, 
by  the  testimony  of  the  importing  merchants  of  those  coun- 
tries, that  aside  from  the  difference  in  cost  and  convenience 
in  transporting,  it  is  to  their  advantage  to  buy  in  the  United 
States,  because  the  quality  of  our  products  is  superior,  and 
our  prices  are  usually  as  low  as  those  of  Europe.” 

AN  OPPOSING  VIEW. 

Mr.  Belmont  presented  a minority,  and  opposing,  report 
to  the  above  bill.  In  discussing  it  from  a commercial  stand- 
point, he  made  quite  prominent  a fact,  if  not  a principle, 
though  unintended  on  his  part,  that  was  fully  recognized 
when  reciprocity  was  introduced  into  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890. 
He  said : 

“ Nothing  is  now  so  desirable  for  our  own  people  as  a free 
and  reciprocal  interchange  of  products  between  ourselves  and 
the  people  of  other  nations  on  this  continent.  But  what  now 
hinders  such  free  interchange  so  much  as  our  tariff  laws? 
If  this  Government  shall  invite  Brazil,  Mexico  and  the  Re- 
publics of  Central  America  and  South  America  to  join  us  in 
a conference  to  promote  such  free  and  reciprocal  interchange 
of  products,  what  concessions  in  our  tariff  schedules  is  the 
President  to  be  authorized  to  instruct  our  commissioners  to 
propose  on  our  part  ? The  question  of  our  own  tariff  will 
naturally  and  immediately  come  up  for  discussion  and  con- 
sideration. Shall,  for  example,  our  commissioners  be  au- 
thorized to  offer  to  the  Argentine  Republic  to  admit  its  wool 
into  our  ports  free  of  duty  ? 

“ No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  I am  of  the  great  ad- 
vantages which  in  our  country  flow  from  that  free  commer- 
cial intercourse,  unvexed  by  tariffs  or  custom-houses,  which 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


30o 

the  Federal  Constitution  secures.  I wish  by  some  possible 
and  wise  contrivance  those  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  and 
between  Maine  and  California,  Florida  and  Alaska,  could  be 
realized  by  and  between  every  nation  and  every  producer  on 
this  hemisphere  from  Baffin’s  Bay  to  Cape  Horn.  But  is 
this  Government  now  in  condition  to  successfully  ask  in  a 
diplomatic  way  the  accomplishment  of  such  a result?  To 
use  Mr.  Gladstone’s  language,  should  we  not  first  of  all 
begin  to  govern  ourselves  in  tariff  matters  with  ‘justice  and 
moderation  ? ’ And  then,  too,  does  opinion  in  this  House 
tend  to  tolerate  a reform  or  protective  system  by  treaties  ? 

“ One  of  the  difficulties  with  which  we  in  the  United 
States  have  now  to  contend  is  that,  by  reason  of  our  present 
tariff  laws,  we  cannot  in  our  own  workshops  compete  with 
European  manufacturers,  notwithstanding  the  great  advan- 
tage we  have  from  the  efficiency  of  better  paid  and  better 
educated  labor.  So  long  as  such  tariff  laws  shall  be  main- 
tained it  is  not  believed  that  any  diplomatic  negotiations  will 
enable  the  United  States  to  do  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
or  in  Mexico,  or  in  Central  America,  or  in  South  America 
what  we  cannot  do  at  home — which  is  to  compete  with 
European  manufacturers.  Freedom  to  buy  in  these  com- 
munities we  now  have,  and  we  can  enlarge  its  use  to  any 
degree,  but  freedom  to  sell  to  those  communities  we  can 
only  enlarge  by  producing  equally  good  articles  which  we 
will  sell  at  least  as  cheaply  as  our  European  competitors. 
All  schemes  whatever  for  retaining  a protective  system  and 
gaining  foreign  markets  are  impossible  of  success,  no  matter 
how  many  railways  we  may  build  or  steamships  we  may 
subsidize.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  statistics  already  given 
that  a large  part  of  the  products  of  our  neighbors  to  the 
south  of  us  are  now  admitted  at  our  custom-houses  free  of 
duty,  but  the  difficulty  of  increasing  the  exports  of  our 


IIon.  James  L.  Pugh. 


Born  in  Burke  co.,  Ga.,  December  12,  1820 ; moved  early  to  Ala- 
bama, and  received  academic  education  ; admitted  to  bar  in  1841,  and 
acquired  a lucrative  practice ; elected  to  36th  Congress,  but  withdrew 
when  State  seceded;  served  in  Confederate  army;  elected  to  Confederate 
Congress,  1861-63 ; resumed  law  practice  at  Eufaula ; member  of  Con- 
vention that  framed  State  Constitution  in  1875 ; elected  to  U.  S.  Senate 
in  1880;  re-elected  1884  and  1890;  member  of  Committees  on  Educa- 
tion and  Labor,  Judiciary,  Privileges  and  Elections,  Revolutionary 
Claims  and  Canadian  Relations. 

(301) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


303 


manufactured  products  to  those  countries  remains,  because 
our  protective  tariff  inflicts  what,  owing  to  the  increased 
cost  of  manufacture,  is  in  effect  an  export  tax  upon  our  prod- 
ucts, which  frustrates  the  efforts  of  our  enterprising  and 
inventive  people  to  have  more  complete  possession  of  the 
neighboring  markets  upon  this  continent.” 

ARGUMENTS  FOR  RECIPROCITY. 

It  was  not  until  May  6,  1886,  that  Senator  Frye’s  bill,  be- 
fore alluded  to,  was  reported  to  the  Senate  by  the  Commit- 
tee on  Foreign  Relations.  Its  provisions  were  very  like 
those  of  the  McCreary  bill.  It  was  accompanied  by  a still 
more  elaborate  report  than  that  in  the  House,  which  report 
included  the  reports  made  from  time  to  time  by  the  com- 
missioners who  had  visited  the  Central  and  South  American 
countries.  This  report,  or,  rather,  these  reports,  left  little 
to  be  added  upon  the  propriety  of  an  international  confer- 
ence, and  the  necessity  for  reciprocity  in  trade  and  com- 
merce. We  first  use  the  language  of  Commissioner 
Thacher : — 

“ The  peculiarities  of  the  Latin  race  in  America  lead  it 
away  from  manufacturing  pursuits.  Valencia  centuries  ago 
imported  wool  from  England  and  returned  it  in  cloths,  but 
the  process  is  now  reversed. 

“ Great  Britain  manufactures  for  the  world,  and  Spain, 
with  all  the  colonies  she  planted,  contributes  to  her  com- 
mercial supremacy. 

“ In  Spain  there  is  cheap  fuel  and  plenty  of  water-power. 
In  Spanish  America,  from  Mexico  to  Magellan,  there  are 
few  coal-fields,  but  almost  everywhere  flowing  streams, 
furnishing  the  cheapest  and  most  abundant  power. 

“ Guatemala,  Costa  Rica,  the  western  slopes  of  the  Andes, 
Uruguay,  and  portions  of  the  Argentine  Republic  have  un- 


3°4 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


failing  and  enormous  stores  of  this  easily-used  motor.  Yet 
in  Costa  Rica  I saw  only  two  water-driven  mills ; in  Guate- 
mala there  were  a few  more ; yet  not  one-thousandth  part 
of  the  water-power  was  utilized.  The  Rimac  for  nearly  70 
miles  is  a dashing  cascade,  with  only  a tannery,  a brewery, 
and  possibly  a few  other  industries  at  Lima  holding  in  check 
for  a few  minutes  its  rushing  flood. 

“Chili  in  the  Mopocho  and  the  Maipo  has  powerful 
streams,  and  hundreds  of  smaller  water-courses  find  their 
way  to  the  ocean. 

“ The  report  from  Uruguay  calls  attention  to  its  internal 
water-power,  and  the  statements  submitted  with  the  report 
from  the  Argentine  Republic  show  how  immense  is  the 
water-power  in  the  Gran  Chaco  region. 

“ We  must  conclude,  then,  that  the  want  of  manufactured 
products  in  these  countries  grows  out  of  either  or  both  of  two 
causes ; the  one  a disinclination  to  take  up  the  patient, 
steady  routine  of  daily  toil  necessary  to  successful  manu- 
facturing, and  the  other  a greater  profitableness  in  other 
more  congenial  pursuits. 

“ Without  dwelling  on  the  point,  I may  say  that  it  is  safe 
to  aver  that  these  countries  will  for  years  be  great  consumers 
of  foreign  manufactured  goods. 

“ In  Chili  the  war  with  Peru  demoralized  the  soldiers, 
many  of  whom  were  taken  from  the  ordinary  pursuits,  and, 
returning  from  their  conquest,  failed  to  take  up  the  peaceful 
avocations  they  left ; and  yet  Chili  is  beyond  doubt  in  manu- 
factories the  New  England  of  South  America.  The  special 
report  on  this  country  fully  covers  this  question. 

“ In  any  trade  relations  we  may  establish  with  those  coun- 
tries we  may  reasonably  count  on  the  permanence  of  the 
demand  for  our  goods. 

“ The  larger  portion  of  the  commerce  we  are  seeking  has 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


305 


been  in  the  hands  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  recent  years 
another,  and  what  promises  to  be  a more  formidable  rival, 
has  come  to  the  front. 

“ The  German  manufacturers,  intrenched  behind  encour- 
aging and  protecting  legislative  walls,  have  pushed  their 
products  far  beyond  the  home  demand.  Always  sure  of 
their  own  market  without  competition,  they  have  turned 
their  unflagging  energies  to  secure  centers  of  trade  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere.  They  are  clever  imitators  of  every 
new  invention,  of  every  improved  machine,  and  of  many  of 
the  most  useful  and  popular  goods  produced  in  the  United 
States.  They  send  out  counterfeits  of  the  famous  ‘ Collins* 
wares,  even  to  the  very  brand ; they  make  mowers  and 
agricultural  implements  as  nearly  like  ours  as  possible.  Our 
sewing-machines  are  copied  by  these  people,  and  the  imita- 
tions are  palmed  off  on  the  South  American  trade  as  com- 
ing from  the  United  States.  The  character  and  ways  of 
these  new  rivals  for  the  trade  of  our  neighbors  is  thus  graph- 
ically portrayed  by  our  former  consul-general  in  Mexico, 
Mr.  Strother,  and  I may  add  that  what  the  German  is  in 
Mexico  he  is  in  all  the  other  Central  and  South  American 
nations. 

“ General  Strother  says  : 

“ * For  the  rest  it  will  still  remain  with  American  manu- 
facturers and  merchants  to  solve  the  question  of  successful 
competition  with  their  European  rivals,  the  most  formidable 
of  whom  at  present  are  the  Germans,  whose  commercial 
establishments  are  more  substantially  planted  and  more 
widely  extended  than  those  of  any  other  foreign  nation. 
And  it  may  be  well  here  to  note  their  methods  and  the 
causes  of  their  success.  The  German  who  comes  to  Mexico 
to  establish  himself  in  business  is  carefully  educated  for  the 
purpose,  not  only  in  the  special  branch  which  he  proposes 


3°6 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


to  follow,  but  he  is  also  an  accomplished  linguist,  being 
generally  able  to  converse  and  correspond  in  the  four  great 
commercial  languages — German,  English,  French,  and  Span- 
ish. His  enterprise  is  usually  backed  by  large  capital  in  the 
mother  country.  He  does  not  come  to  speculate,  or  inflated 
with  the  hope  of  acquiring  sudden  fortune,  but  expecting  to 
succeed  in  time  by  close  attention,  patient  labor  and  economy, 
looking  forward  twenty,  thirty,  or  even  forty  years  for  the 
realization  of  his  hopes.  He  builds  up  his  business  as  one 
builds  a house,  brick  by  brick,  and  with  a solid  foundation. 
He  can  brook  delays,  give  long  credits,  sustain  reverses,  and 
tide  over  dull  times.  He  never  meddles  with  the  politics  of 
the  country ; keeps  on  good  terms  with  its  governors,  who- 
ever they  may  be.  He  rarely  makes  complaints  through 
his  minister  or  consul,  but  if  caught  evading  the  revenue 
laws,  or  in  other  illegal  practices,  he  pays  his  fine  and  goes 
on  with  his  business.  With  these  methods  and  character- 
istics, the  German  merchant  generally  succeeds  in  securing 
wealth  and  the  respect  of  any  community  in  which  he  may 
have  established  himself.’ 

“ In  a conversation  with  the  British  minister,  Sir  Spencer 
St.  John,  in  Mexico,  he  observed  to  me  that  the  success  of 
the  Germans  in  dealing  with  the  revenue  officials  and  in 
pushing  their  trade  had  driven  out  of  Mexico  every  whole- 
sale English  house,  whereas  the  foreign  commerce  was  once 
largely  in  the  hands  of  his  countrymen. 

“ In  passing  from  this  point  we  must  not  forget  that  not- 
withstanding all  this  copying  of  our  productions  by  the 
German  manufacturer,  yet  the  deception  deceives  few,  and 
that  were  the  markets  open  to  our  dealers  the  superior 
material,  workmanship,  and  fidelity  of  our  goods  would  defy 
all  competition. 

“ The  French,  equally  protected  by  home  legislation  and 


Hon.  John  M.  Palmer. 


Born  in  Scott  co.,  Ky.,  September  13,  1817  ; moved  to  Illinois,  1831 ; 
studied  at  Alton  College;  admitted  to  bar,  1839;  elected  Probate  Judge 
of  Macoupin  co.,  1843;  member  of  Constitutional  Convention,  1847; 
elected  County  Judge,  1848 ; elected  to  State  Senate,  1852;  elected  to 
State  Senate,  1855,  as  Anti-Nebraska  Democrat ; Delegate  to  Republican 
National  Convention,  1856 ; candidate  for  Congress,  1859,  on  Republican 
ticket  and  defeated ; member  of  Peace  Conference,  1861 ; entered  Union 
army  (1861)  as  Colonel  of  14th  Illinois  Regiment ; promoted  to  Brigadier 
General,  1861;  promoted  to  Major  General,  1863;  commanded  14th 
Army  Corps,  1863;  operated  on  Mississippi,  with  army  of  Cumberland 
and  with  Sherman  to  Atlanta;  elected  Governor  of  Illinois,  1868; 
nominated  for  Governor  on  Democratic  ticket,  1888,  and  defeated; 
elected  U.  S.  Senator,  as  Democrat,  1891. 

(3°7) 


the  mm 

Of  THE 

ttwiMan  if  aiaw® 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


309 


alive  to  the  wants  of  the  South  American  markets,  are  in- 
creasing their  trade  there. 

“ Indeed  we  must  meet  in  the  ports  of  our  neighbors  the 
wares  of  many  of  the  European  countries,  all  of  which  are 
borne  to  their  destination  in  vessels  flying  their  own 
national  ensign.” 

FURTHER  ARGUMENTS. 

Mr.  Reynolds,  another  of  the  Commissioners,  discussed  the 
reciprocal  trade  idea  still  more  ably  and  exhaustively,  and 
in  fact  left  the  matter  in  such  shape  as  that  the  system  of 
practical  reciprocity  incorporated  into  the  Act  of  1890  was 
the  inevitable  outcome  of  his  logic.  He  says  : 

“ Among  the  means  to  secure  more  intimate  commer- 
cial relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  several 
countries  of  Central  and  South  America,  suggested  in  the 
first  report  of  the  Commission  to  those  States  (transmitted 
by  the  President  to  Congress  on  February  13,  1885,  and 
printed  as  Ex.  Doc.  No.  226),  were  the  following  (p.  4) : 
* Commercial  treaties  with  actual  and  equivalent  reciprocal 
concessions  in  tariff  duties.’  As  the  words  * actual  and  equiv- 
alent, were  adopted  at  my  suggestion,  an  explanation  of 
their  full  force  may  not  be  superfluous.  A stipulation  in  a 
treaty  that  certain  products  of  one  country  shall  be  admitted 
free,  or  at  a reduced  duty,  into  another  country,  may,  on 
paper,  appear  to  offer  a reciprocal  concession  for  a like  ad- 
mission of  certain  other  products  of  the  latter  country  into 
the  former.  But  the  seeming  effect  of  it  may  be  neutralized 
in  various  ways,  so  that  it  will  be,  to  the  one  country  or  the 
other,  not  an  actual  concession.  Chief  among  those  ways 
are,  the  existence  of  treaties  with  other  nations,  placing 
them  on  the  footing  of  the  ‘ most  favored  nation,’  export 
duties,  home  bounties,  drawbacks,  monopolies,  and  muni- 
14 


3TO 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


cipal  or  other  local  taxation.  The  skill  of  the  diplomatist, 
aided  by  information  from  consuls,  merchants,  shippers,  and 
other  experts  in  the  question,  should  be  exerted  to  frame 
the  treaty  so  as  to  prevent  the  defeat  of  its  real  object  by 
such  collateral  disadvantages  and  burdens.  To  explain  them, 
or  point  out  modes  of  removing  them,  severally,  would 
unduly  extend  the  length  of  this  letter. 

“ But  one  of  them,  the  ‘ most  favored  nation  clause,’  de- 
serves special  consideration.  It  is  understood  that  Great 
Britain,  Germany,  and  probably  other  countries,  claim  that 
a reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United  States  by  a Spanish 
American  country  applies  to  them,  under  that  clause  in  their 
treaties  with  the  last-mentioned  country,  with  the  same 
effect  as  if  their  names  had  been  in  the  treaty  instead  of  or 
along  with  that  of  the  United  States.  For  example,  should 
the  United  States,  resuming  import  duties  on  coffee,  grant 
to  Brazil  freedom  from  them,  on  the  ‘ reciprocal  concession  ’ 
that  flour  and  certain  American  manufactures  should  be 
admitted  free  into  that  Empire,  Great  Britain,  which  con- 
sumes very  little  coffee  of  any  kind,  and  probably  none  from 
Brazil,  would  claim  the  same  freedom  for  her  like  manufact- 
ures. Thus,  in  return  for  our  being  customers  of  Brazil, 
in  coffee  to  the  amount  of  about  $50,000,000  annually,  Great 
Britain,  offering  no  ‘ equivalent  ’ concession  in  fact,  would 
still  be  able  to  drive  (or  rather,  keep)  us  out  of  the  Brazil- 
ian market  for  those  manufactures  which  she  can  supply 
more  cheaply  or  with  greater  facility  through  her  lines  of 
steamers. 

“ After  much  thought  on  the  subject,  I have  found  no 
surer  mode  of  making  reciprocity  ‘ equivalent  ’ than  by  ex- 
pressing in  the  treaty  itself,  and  as  a condition  of  it,  the  real 
object  of  every  reciprocity  treaty,  the  actual  and  equivalent 
increase  of  the  commerce  between  the  parties  to  it.  For 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  31 1 

illustration,  should  the  United  States  make  a reciprocity  treaty 
with  Spain  for  certain  concessions  designed  to  increase  our 
exports  to  Cuba,  in  consideration  of  a reduction  of  our  du- 
ties on  Cuban  sugars,  the  treaty  should  provide,  that  that 
reduction  should  exist  only  as  long  as  Cuba  imported  from 
the  United  States  at  least  a certain  fixed  amount  in  value 
annually,  and  Spain  might  justly  require  a like  condition  as 
to  the  annual  amount  of  our  imports  of  Cuban  sugars.  The 
custom-house  returns  of  the  two  countries  would  readily  fix 
the  respective  amounts,  and  the  reciprocity  of  the  treaty, 
whenever  it  ceased  to  be  actual  and  equivalent,  could  be 
suspended  by  a proclamation  of  the  President,  on  due  notice 
to  be  provided  for  in  the  treaty. 

“ As  it  is  undeniable,  and  even  generally  admitted,  that 
the  ‘ most  favored  nation  clause  ’ entitles  a country  having 
the  privilege  of  it  to  be  merely  * on  all  fours  ’ with  any  other 
nation,  and  share  the  advantages  of  it  only  on  the  identical 
conditions  accompanying  them,  such  a proviso  as  that  above 
mentioned  would  effectually  block  the  diplomatic  game 
which  Germany  is  understood  to  have  played  upon  us  in 
Mexico,  by  claiming  for  herself  the  benefits  of  our  recent 
reciprocity  treaty  with  that  Republic.  Taking,  in  fact,  no 
sugar  and  little  tobacco  or  anything  else  from  Mexico,  she 
sagaciously  offers  to  remit  her  duties  on  them,  and  claims 
for  her  exports  to  that  Republic,  mainly  in  manufacturest 
the  same  concessions  it  made  to  the  United  States  in  order 
to  increase  the  exports  of  its  own  products  to  our  country. 
With  such  a proviso  as  that  above  suggested,  Germany  would 
be  beaten  on  her  own  diplomatic  ground.  Mexico  would 
be  obligated  by  the  * most  favored  nation  clause  ’ only  to 
offer  to  Germany  the  same  treaty,  mutatis  mutandis , her 
name  taking  the  place  of  that  of  the  United  States.  As  her 
imports  from  Mexico  would  not  compare  with  ours,  such  a 


312 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


treaty  would  give  her  no  actual  advantage  over  us.  So, 
also,  with  Cuba  in  her  commerce  with  Germany,  and  prob- 
ably, also,  with  Great  Britain  and  France.  No  one  of 
those  countries  (France  and  Germany  making  their  own  beet- 
root sugar,  and  Great  Britain  being  supplied  principally  by 
her  own  colonies)  would  be  able  to  take  from  Cuba  the 
amount  of  sugars  which  would  be  the  treaty  ‘ equivalent  ’ 
for  the  concessions  made  to  the  United  States. 

' “Another  important  consideration  in  deciding  what  kind 
of  a reciprocity  treaty  to  make,  or  whether  to  make  it  at  all, 
is  the  effect  it  would  have  on  some  equally  advantageous 
indirect  trade.  By  driving  out  of  some  South  American 
market  some  other  country  which  trades  with  us,  we  may 
diminish  the  purchasing  power  of  that  country  in  our  own 
markets,  and  increased  indirect  trade  with  the  former  may 
not  compensate  us  for  a loss  of  trade  with  the  latter.  In 
this  connection,  the  effect  of  several  misused  terms  is  to  be 
deprecated.  Generally  when  our  imports  from  and  exports 
to  any  particular  country  do  not  balance  at  all,  the  very  bad 
English  is  common  of  speaking  of  a ‘ balance  of  trade  ’ for 
or  against  us.  It  is  refreshing  to  notice  that  in  the  reports 
of  our  Bureau  of  Statistics  that  improper  phrase  is  discarded, 
and  the  difference  between  exports  and  imports  is  described 
as  an  excess  of  one  over  the  other.  An  excess  of  imports 
over  exports  in  a particular  venture  may  represent  a gain, 
and  not  a loss.  A familiar  illustration  is  that  of  a Boston 
ship  which,  in  former  times,  would  take  a cargo  belonging 
to  the  ship’s  owner,  worth,  say,  $100,000,  to  China,  and  re- 
turn with  one,  also  belonging  to  the  same  owner,  worth 
twice  the  amount.  The  difference,  being  the  returns  for  the 
expenses  of  the  voyage,  the  profit  in  China  on  the  original 
venture,  and  that  in  Boston  on  the  return  cargo,  would  be 
all  gain.  The  same  may  be  the  case  with  the  entire  com- 


Bi  ii::=-n' 


- , 


Hon.  William  E.  Russell. 


Born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  January  6,  1857;  graduated  at  Harvard, 
1877,  and  later  from  Boston  University  Law  School ; admitted  to  Suf- 
folk bar  in  1880;  elected  to  Common  Council,  1882,  and  to  Board  of 
Aldermen  in  1884;  elected  Mayor,  1886,1887,  1888;  nominated  for 
Governor,  as  Democrat,  in  1888 ; defeated ; nominated  in  1889 ; de- 
feated; nominated  in  1890;  elected  by  8,953  plurality;  re-elected 
Governor  in  1892  by  a plurality  of  6,457;  distinguished  at  the  bar  and 
as  an  exponent  of  advanced  and  liberal  Democracy;  an  able  orator, 
impartial  executive,  and  popular  with  all  parties. 

(314) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA 


3i5 


merce  of  one  country  with  another,  as  could  be  amply  shown 
from  the  statistics  of  British  trade  with  Asia,  given  in  Mr. 
Frelinghuysen’s  letter  on  the  ‘ Commerce  of  the  world.’ 
Of  course,  in  some  other  special  case  it  might  be  otherwise. 

“Another  very  general  error  is  to  treat  an  excess  of  im- 
ports over  exports  in  our  trade  with  a particular  country  as 
a difference  which  we  pay  in  cash.  This  is  rarely,  if  ever, 
the  case.  It  is  usually  paid  in  exchange  on  some  other 
country,  obtained  by  selling  to  it  our  own  products.  Brazil 
affords  a very  fair  illustration.  We  take  from  that  Empire 
directly  products  many  millions  in  value  in  excess  of  what  we 
send  directly  to  it.  That  excess  is  paid  for  by  exchange  on 
London,  based  on  our  exports  of  provisions,  cotton,  etc.,  and 
with  that  exchange  the  Brazilian  pays  for  English  manufac- 
tures to  be  sent  to  Rio.  The  indirect  trade  may  be  differ- 
ent. The  Englishman  may  sell  his  manufactures  in  Brazil, 
convert  the  proceeds  directly,  or  indirectly  by  purchase  of 
exchange,  into  coffee,  with  the  proceeds  of  which  in  New 
York  he  purchases  provisions  to  be  sent  to  England.  In 
either  case  the  result  is  the  same.  England  gains  some 
profit  in  exchange,  as  London  is  the  world’s  money  centre, 
and  in  freights  which  her  ships  carry.  But  to  the  extent  to 
which  England  is  crippled  in  her  sales  to  Brazil,  her  pur- 
chasing power  in  our  provision  markets  may  be  diminished. 

“ Therefore,  before  making  a reciprocity  treaty,  we  should 
carefully  consider,  in  each  particular  case,  whether,  even 
with  the  profits  in  exchange  and  shipping  in  a direct  trade, 
we  may  not  be  losing  a more  profitable  commerce  in  a dif- 
ferent direction,  by  diminishing  the  power  of  others  of  our 
regular  customers  to  purchase  products  from  us.” 

A STILL  FURTHER  VIEW. 

Mr.  Curtis,  Secretary  of  the  Commission  and  afterwards  a 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


3i6 

Commissioner,  added  a very  interesting  report,  which  still 
further  elaborated  the  necessity  for  reciprocal  trade.  He 
said : — _ 

“ During  the  last  twenty  years  the  value  of  the  exports 
from  the  United  States  to  the  Spanish  Americans  was 
$442,048,975,  and  during  that  time  we  purchased  of  them 
raw  products  to  the  amount  of  $1,185,828,579,  showing  an 
excess  of  imports  during  the  twenty  years  amounting  to 
$765,992,219,  which  was  paid  in  cash.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  our  commerce  with  Central  and  South  America  has  left 
a very  large  balance  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger,  while 
those  countries  have  all  the  time  been  buying  in  Europe  the 
very  merchandise  we  have  for  sale.  Being  the  very  reverse 
of  the  United  States  in  climate  and  resources,  they  constitute 
our  natural  commercial  allies,  and  the  exchange  should  at 
least  be  even  ; but  they  sell  their  raw  products  here  and  buy 
their  manufactured  articles  in  Europe.  The  principal  reason 
for  this  is  that  the  carrying  trade  is  in  the  hands  of  English- 
men. The  statistics  show,  that,  of  the  total  imports  into 
the  United  States  from  Spanish  America,  which,  in  1884, 
amounted  to  $159,000,000,  three-fourths  were  carried  in 
foreign  vessels.  Of  our  exports  to  those  countries,  amount- 
ing last  year  to  $64,000,000,  $46,000,000  were  carried  in 
American  vessels,  while  only  $18,000,000  were  carried  by 
foreign  vessels.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  nearly  everything 
we  buy  is  brought  to  us  from  Spanish  America  by  English- 
men, while  nearly  everything  we  sell  we  have  to  carry  there 
ourselves.  The  logic  of  these  facts  is  irresistible. 

“ The  most  absurd  spectacle  in  the  commercial  world  is 
the  trade  we  carry  on  with  Brazil.  We  buy  nearly  all  her 
raw  products,  while  she  spends  the  money  we  pay  for  them 
in  England  and  France. 

“In  1884,  of  the  exports  of  Brazil  $50,266,000  went  to 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA.  31 7 

the  United  States,  $29,000,000  to  England,  and  $24,000,000 
to  France.  Of  the  imports  of  Brazil  in  1884,  $35,000,000 
came  from  England,  $1 5,000,000  from  France,  and  $8,000,000 
from  the  United  States. 

“ Another  peculiar  feature  of  this  commerce  was  that  of 
the  exports  of  Brazil  to  the  United  States  $32,000,000  were 
carried  in  English  vessels  and  $9,000,000  in  American 
vessels,  while  of  her  imports  from  the  United  States 
$6,000,000  were  carried  in  American  vessels  and  only 
$2,000,000  in  English  vessels.  The  trade  is  carried  on  by 
triangular  voyages.  Two  lines  of  steamships  sailing  under 
the  British  flag  load  every  week  at  Rio  for  New  York. 
Arriving  at  the  latter  port  they  place  their  cargoes  of  coffee 
and  hides  in  the  hands  of  commission  merchants,  and  sail 
for  Europe,  where  they  draw  against  these  consignments, 
and  buy  Manchester  cotton,  Birmingham  hardware,  and 
other  goods  which  they  carry  to  Brazil.  During  the  last 
twenty  years  this  absurd  spectacle  has  cost  the  United 
States  $600,000,000,  every  cent  of  which  has  gone  into  the 
pockets  of  English  and  French  manufacturers.  We  have 
not  only  paid  for  the  goods  that  England  has  sold  Brazil, 
but  as  we  have  had  no  banking  connections  with  that  coun- 
try and  no  ships  on  the  sea,  nearly  every  ton  of  this  com- 
merce has  paid  a tax  to  English  bankers  and  vessel-owners. 

“ Several  years  ago,  when  we  removed  the  import  tax  on 
coffee,  Brazil  put  an  export  duty  on,  so  that  the  attempt  of 
Congress  to  secure  a cheap  breakfast  for  the  workingman 
simply  resulted  in  diverting  several  million  dollars  from  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  into  the  treasury  of  Brazil, 
without  changing  the  price  of  the  article.  Mexico  and  the 
countries  washed  by  the  Caribbean  Sea  produce  a better 
quality  of  coffee  than  is  grown  in  Brazil,  and  if  the  United 
States  Government  would  consent  to  discriminate  against 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


318 

Brazilian  coffee,  raised  by  slave  labor,  the  nations  of  Central 
America  and  the  Spanish  Main  would  reciprocate  by  ad- 
mitting free  to  their  ports  our  flour,  lumber,  provisions, 
lard,  dairy  products,  kerosene,  and  other  articles  which  are 
now  kept  from  the  common  people  by  an  almost  prohibitory 
tariff. 

“ Brazil  is  in  such  a critical  condition,  financially  and  com- 
mercially, that  if  we  did  not  buy  her  coffee  it  would  rot  on 
the  trees,  and  the  Englishmen  who  control  her  foreign  com- 
merce would  have  to  close  their  warehouses  and  throw  all 
the  Brazilian  planters  into  the  bankrupt  court.  These  Eng- 
lishmen have  secured  mortgages  upon  the  plantations  of 
Brazil  by  supplying  the  planters  with  merchandise  on  credit 
and  taking  the  crop  at  the  end  of  the  season  in  payment ; 
but  as  the  crop  seldom  pays  the  advances,  the  mortgages 
have  been  lapping  over  upon  the  plantations,  until  now  the 
Englishmen  have  the  Brazilians  by  the  throat,  making  their 
own  terms,  charging  one  profit  on  the  merchandise  sold, 
another  as  interest  on  the  advances,  a third  on  the  coffee 
purchased,  and  a fourth  as  interest  on  payments  deferred, 
while  they  make  three  profits  out  of  us  : first,  on  coffee  they 
sell  us ; second,  on  transportation  charges ; third,  in  dis- 
counting our  bills  on  London. 

“ The  greater  part  of  our  exports  to  Spanish  America  go 
to  Mexico  and  the  West  Indies.  Deducting  these  from  the 
total,  it  will  be  found  that  we  buy  over  30  per  cent,  of  what 
the  South  American  countries  have  for  sale,  and  furnish 
them  only  6 per  cent,  of  their  imports.  The  balance  of 
trade  goes  on  piling  up  at  the  rate  of  nearly  $100,000,000  a 
year.  This  was  not  always  so.  Twenty  years  ago  more 
than  half  the  commerce  of  this  hemisphere  was  controlled 
by  the  merchants  of  New  York,  Boston,  and  Baltimore,  and 
more  than  half  the  ships  in  its  harbors  sailed  from  those 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


3i9 


ports.  Now  only  a small  percentage  of  the  carrying  trade 
is  done  in  American  bottoms,  while  English  ship-owners 
who  control  the  transportation  facilities  permit  the  Spanish- 
American  merchants  to  buy  in  this  country  only  such  goods 
as  they  cannot  obtain  elsewhere. 

“ The  cause  of  this  astonishing  phenomenon  is  our  neglect 
to  furnish  the  ways  and  means  of  commerce.  We  can  no 
more  prevent  trade  following  facilities  for  communication 
than  we  can  repeal  the  law  of  gravity.  While  we  have  been 
pointing  with  pride  at  our  internal  development,  England 
and  France  have  been  stealing  our  markets  away  from  us. 
The  problem  of  recovering  them  is  easy  of  solution.  The 
States  of  Central  and  South  America  will  buy  what  we  have 
to  sell  if  intelligent  measures  are  used  to  cultivate  the  mar- 
kets and  means  are  provided  for  the  delivery  of  the  goods. 

“ The  Spanish-American  nations  seek  political  intimacy 
with  the  United  States,  and  look  to  this,  the  mother  of  re- 
publics, for  example  and  encouragement.  They  recognize 
and  assert  the  superiority  of  our  products.  They  offer  and 
pay  subsidies  to  our  ships.  Brazil  now  pays  $100,000  a 
year  as  a subsidy  to  an  American  steamship  line,  while  the 
United  States  Government  paid  only  $4,000  last  year  to 
the  same  line  for  carrying  our  mails.  The  Argentine  Re- 
public had  a law  upon  its  statute-books  representing  a stand- 
ing offer  of  a subsidy  of  96,000  silver  dollars  a year  to  any 
company  that  will  establish  a steamship  line  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  New  York,  under  the  American  flag, 
and  at  the  same  time  has  twenty-one  lines  of  steamships, 
sailing  from  forty-five  to  sixty  vessels  a month,  between 
Buenos  Ayres  and  the  ports  of  Europe,  to  which  it  pays 
nothing.  We  have  no  steamship  communication  with  the 
Argentine  Republic  whatever.  During  the  last  year,  out 
of  the  millions  of  tons  of  shipping  represented  in  the  harbor 


320 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


of  that  metropolis,  there  were  no  steamers  from  the  United 
States,  and  our  flag  was  seen  upon  but  2 per  cent,  of  the 
sailing  vessels.  Here  is  a nation  purchasing  in  Europe 
$ 70,000,000  worth  of  merchandise  every  year,  and  only 
spending  about  $4,000,000  in  the  United  States,  and  these 
$4,000,000  represent  articles,  such  as  petroleum,  lumber, 
lard  and  other  pork  products,  which  could  not  elsewhere  be 
obtained.” 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONFERENCE. 

The  Senate  passed  the  Frye  bill  on  June  17,  1886,  but  it 
did  not  become  a law  until  May  24,  1888,  when  the 
International  American  Conference  became  a possi- 
bility. 

It  was  for  this  Conference  to  give  wider,  fuller,  more 
learned  and  disinterested  consideration  to  the  question  of 
trade  relations  and  reciprocal  commerce  between  the 
American  nations  than  ever  before.  It  was  called  by  the 
President  to  meet  in  Washington,  October  2,  1889.  Invita- 
tions were  duly  issued,  and  the  Conference  met  with  dele- 
gates present  from  Argentine,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chili, 
Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Hayti,  Hon- 
duras, Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Salvador,  United 
States,  Uruguay,  Venezuela. 

Hon.  James  G.  Blaine  was  elected  President  of  the  Con- 
ference. It  remained  in  session  until  April,  1890,  and  dis- 
cussed and  reported  upon  all  the  subjects  prescribed  in  the 
Act  authorizing  the  call,  to  wit : — 

Plan  of  Arbitration  ; Reciprocity  Treaties  ; Inter-Conti- 
nental Railway;  Steamship  Communication;  Sanitary 
Regulations  ; Customs  Regulations ; Common  Silver  Coin  ; 
Patents  and  Trade  Marks ; Weights  and  Measures ; Port 
Dues;  International  Laws;  Extradition  Treaties;  Inter- 
national Bank. 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


321 


In  the  discussions  upon  “ Reciprocity  Treaties,”  all  of 
which  were  very  able  and  interesting,  two  lines  of  thought 
appeared.  That  which  represented  all  of  the  countries  ex- 
cept Argentine  and  Chili,  was  in  the  direction  of  reci- 
procity, whose  advantages  were  conceded,  and  whose 
practical  operation  needed  but  the  encouragement  of  some 
acceptable  concession  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  thought  of  Argentine  and  Chili  seemed  to  be  that  reci- 
procity was  impracticable,  unless  enlarged  to  suit  the 
world,  and  that  the  United  States  was  not  yet  so  commer- 
cially strong,  or  was  too  hampered  with  her  tariff  system  to 
offer  the  necessary  concessions  to  all  the  nations.  The 
attitude  and  the  logic  of  these  two  States  were  fully  met  by 
the  delegates  of  the  United  States  in  the  Conference,  show- 
ing in  detail  that  the  first  stage  of  national  growth  is  agri- 
cultural, the  second  is  manufacturing,  and  the  third  is  com- 
mercial. The  first  two  stages  with  us  have  been  reached, 
and  we  now  enter  upon  the  third.  The  same  restless 
energy,  the  same  enterprise,  and  the  same  inventive  genius 
which  gave  success  to  agriculture  and  manufactures  will 
mark  the  development  of  commerce. 

“ The  spirit  of  enterprise  begins  to  spread  like  contagion 
into  Central  America.  Imagination  already  paints  on  her 
canals  the  commerce  of  the  world.  The  locomotive  is 
there  a messenger  of  peace,  the  steel  rail  a bond  of  friend- 
ship. 

“ Colombia  and  Venezuela  and  Brazil  and  Ecuador  and 
Peru  already  feel  the  irresistible  impulse  which  impels  to  a 
closer  union.  The  Argentine  and  Chili  may  hesitate  for  a 
time,  but  finally  they  too  will  join  hands  with  their  sister 
Republics,  and  joyfully  assist  to  fulfil  the  bright  destiny 
that  awaits  us  all.” 


322 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


CONFERENCE  REPORT  AND  BLAINE’S  REVIEW. 

The  Conference  adopted  a Report  which  recognized  the 
policy  of  reciprocity  and  the  “ need  of  closer  and  more  re- 
ciprocal commercial  relations  among  American  States.” 
Secretary  Blaine  submitted  this  Report  to  the  President, 
June  19,  1890,  with  an  exhaustive  review  of  its  contents. 
This  review  was  so  exhaustive,  and  is,  moreover,  such  an 
important  part  of  the  literature  of  reciprocity,  that  inability  to 
publish  it  here  in  full,  for  lack  of  space,  is  greatly  regretted. 
But  its  gist  was  that  out  of  a total  of  $233,000,000  imports 
furnished  to  Chili  and  Argentine  alone  in  1888,  England 
contributed  $90,000,000,  Germany  $43,000,000,  France 
$34,000,000,  the  United  States  only  $13,000,000,  and  this, 
notwithstanding  the  facts  that  our  ports  were  nearest,  and 
the  bulk  of  those  imports  were  of  articles  we  were  actually 
manufacturing  better  and  as  cheaply  as  foreign  nations. 

That  in  1868  our  total  exports  were  $375,737,000,  of 
which  $53,197,000,  or  14  per  cent.,  went  to  Spanish  America, 
while  in  1888  our  total  exports  were  $742,368,000,  of  which 
$69,273,000,  or  only  9 per  cent.,  went  to  Spanish  America. 

That  it  was  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  delegates 
that  our  exports  to  these  countries  and  the  other  Republics 
could  be  increased  to  a great  extent  by  the  negotiations  of 
proper  reciprocity  treaties. 

That  lack  of  means  for  reaching  their  markets  was  the 
chief  obstacle  in  the  way  of  increased  exports.  The  carry- 
1ng  trade  has  been  controlled  by  European  merchants  who 
have  forbidden  an  exchange  of  commodities.  Under  liberal 
encouragement  from  the  government  and  the  establishment 
of  regular  steamship  lines,  France  increased  her  exports  to 
South  America  from  $8,292,000  in  1880  to  $22,996,000  in 
1888.  By  the  same  means  Germany  increased  her  exports 


Hon.  Jerry  Simpson. 

Born  in  province  of  New  Brunswick,  Canada,  March  31,  1842; 
moved  with  parents  to  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  1848 ; at  fourteen  became 
a sailor,  and  followed  sea  for  twenty-three  years,  being  captain  of  large 
vessels  on  Great  Lakes;  served  for  a time  in  Company  A 12th  Illinois 
Volunteers;  settled  in  Kansas,  near  Medicine  Lodge,  1878;  became 
large  farmer  and  stock  raiser;  united  with  Greenback  and  Union  Labor 
party  ; twice  defeated  for  Kansas  Legislature ; nominated  for  Fifty-sec- 
ond Congress  by  People’s  Party  and  supported  by  Democrats  in  Seventh 
Kansas  District;  elected  by  over  7000  majority. 

(323) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


325 


to  South  America  from  $2,365,000  in  1880  to  $13,310,000 
in  1888. 

That  the  Conference  believes  that  while  great  profit  would 
come  to  all  countries  under  reciprocity  treaties,  the  United 
States  would  be  far  the  greatest  gainer,  and  that  especially 
since  87  per  cent,  of  our  imports  from  those  countries  came 
in  duty  free,  while  nearly  all  our  exports  to  them  were 
heavily  dutiable  at  their  ports,  in  some  cases  to  the  extent 
of  prohibition. 

That  increased  exports  would  draw  alike  from  our  farms, 
factories  and  forests,  such  being  the  character  of  the  articles 
required  by  those  countries.  A steamer  load  from  New 
York  to  Rio  Janeiro,  which  was  traced  to  its  origin,  as  to 
the  articles  which  comprised  it,  showed  that  thirty-six  of 
our  States  and  Territories  had  contributed  to  the  cargo. 

That,  excepting  raw  cotton,  our  four  largest  exports  are 
breadstuffs,  provisions,  petroleum  and  lumber.  In  1889 
our  export  of  these  articles  was  : — Breadstuff's,  $123,876,- 
423,  of  which  only  $5,123,528  went  to  Latin  America;  Pro- 
visions, $104,122,328,  of  which  only  $2,507,375  went 
thither;  Petroleum,  $44,830,424,  of  which  $2,948,149  went 
thither;  Lumber,  $26,907,000,  of  which  $5,039,886  went 
thither.  Since  the  United  States  is  almost  the  only  source 
of  supply  for  these  articles,  which  rank  as  necessaries  of 
life,  and  there  are  50,000,000  of  population  in  Latin 
America,  the  advantages  of  a direct  and  larger  trade  are 
apparent. 

That  fifteen  of  the  seventeen  Republics  in  the  Conference 
indicated  their  desire  to  enter  upon  reciprocal  commercial 
relations  with  the  United  States;  the  remaining  two  ex- 
pressed equal  willingness,  could  they  be  assured  that  their 
advances  would  be  favorably  considered. 

That  to  “ escape  the  delay  and  uncertainty  of  treaties  it 


326 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


has  been  suggested  that  a practicable  and  prompt  mode  of 
testing  the  question  was  to  submit  an  amendment  to  the 
pending  tariff  bill,  authorizing  the  President  to  declare  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  free  to  all  the  products  of  any 
nation  of  the  American  hemisphere  upon  which  no  export 
duties  are  imposed,  whenever  and  so  long  as  such  nation 
shall  admit  to  its  ports  free  of  all  national,  provincial  (state), 
municipal,  and  other  taxes,  our  flour,  corn-meal,  and  other 
breadstuff's,  preserved  meats,  fish,  vegetables  and  fruits,  cot- 
ton-seed  oil,  rice  and  other  provisions,  including  all  articles 
of  food,  lumber,  furniture  and  other  articles  of  wood,  agri- 
cultural implements  and  machinery,  mining  and  mechanical 
machinery,  structural  steel  and  iron,  steel  rails,  locomotives, 
railway  cars  and  supplies,  street  cars,  and  refined  petroleum. 
These  particular  articles  are  mentioned  because  they  have 
been  most  frequently  referred  to  as  those  with  which  a val- 
uable exchange  could  be  readily  effected.  The  list  could 
no  doubt  be  profitably  enlarged  by  a careful  investigation 
of  the  needs  and  advantages  of  both  the  home  and  foreign 
markets. 

“ The  opinion  was  general  among  the  foreign  delegates 
that  the  legislation  herein  referred  to  would  lead  to  the 
opening  of  new  and  profitable  markets  for  the  products  of 
which  we  have  so  large  a surplus,  and  thus  invigorate  every 
branch  of  agricultural  and  mechanical  industry.  Of  course 
the  exchanges  involved  in  these  propositions  would  be  ren- 
dered impossible  if  Congress  in  its  wisdom  should  repeal 
the  duty  on  sugar  by  direct  legislation,  instead  of  allowing 
the  same  object  to  be  attained  by  the  reciprocal  arrangement 
suggested.” 

RECIPROCITY  AND  THE  ACT  OF  189O. 

We  have  now  reached  a period  in  the  history  of  reci- 
procity when  it  was  to  be  given  practical  application,  out- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


327 


side  of  the  usual  form  of  prolix  and  uncertain  treaty,  and 
in  the  form  of  a specific  enactment  or  declaration.  The 
proposition,  just  above  noted,  to  incorporate  it  as  a policy 
in  our  Tariff  laws,  was  at  first  received  with  misgivings  by 
the  most  ardent  friends  of  protection.  They  doubted  the 
propriety  of  introducing  it  into  strictly  tariff  legislation, 
lest  it  might  endanger  the  success  of  such  legislation,  or  at 
least  subtract  from  the  strength  and  efficacy  of  some  of 
the  protective  doctrines. 

But  the  matter  was  persistently  urged  upon  the  attention 
of  those  who  had  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  in  charge.  The 
more  it  was  studied  the  more  it  grew  in  favor.  The  litera- 
ture bearing  upon  it,  the  facts  it  embraced,  the  theories  and 
promises  involved,  proved  startling  and  convincing.  The 
administration  saw  that  it  could  well  afford  to  accept  it  as  a 
measure  and  abide  by  its  consequences.  Political  lines  be- 
gan to  harden  respecting  it,  and  the  one  party  shrank  not 
from  its  advocacy  nor  the  other  from  attack  upon  it.  Thus 
it  ripened,  and  the  Tariff  Act  of  1890  became  its  opportu- 
nity, not  only  as  to  time,  but  as  to  the  fact  that  the  contem- 
plated enlargement  of  the  free  list,  by  the  removal  of  millions 
of  duties  from  sugars  and  other  articles,  would  provide  the 
concessions  to  other  nations  necessary  for  a fair  and  perhaps 
successful  trial  of  it,  in  the  proposed  way. 

At  last  it  found  its  place  in  the  pending  Tariff  Act — the 
Tariff  Act  of  1890 — as  Section  3 of  the  Free  List.  It 
reads : — 

“ That  with  a view  to  secure  reciprocal  trade  with  coun- 
tries producing  the  following  articles,  and  for  this  purpose, 
on  and  after  the  first  day  of  January,  1892,  whenever  and  so 
often  as  the  President  shall  be  satisfied  that  the  government 
of  any  country  producing  and  exporting  sugars,  molasses, 
coffee,  tea,  and  hides  raw  and  uncured,  or  any  of  such 


328 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


articles,  imposes  duties  or  other  exactions  upon  the  agri- 
cultural or  other  products  of  the  United  States,  which  in 
view  of  the  free  introduction  of  such  sugar,  molasses,  coffee, 
tea  and  hides  mto  the  United  States  he  may  deem  to  be  re- 
ciprocally unequal  and  unreasonable,  he  shall  have  the 
power,  and  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  suspend,  by  proclamation 
to  that  effect,  the  provisions  of  this  Act  relating  to  the  free 
introduction  of  such  sugar,  molasses,  coffee,  tea  and  hides, 
the  production  of  such  country,  for  such  time  as  he  shall 
deem  just,  and  in  such  case  and  during  such  suspension 
duties  shall  be  levied,  collected  and  paid  upon  sugar, 
molasses,  coffee,  tea  and  hides,  the  product  of  or  exported 
from  such  designated  country,  as  follows : — ” 

Here  follow  the  rates  in  detail,  the  rate  on  sugar  being 
from  7-ioth  of  a cent  per  pound  to  2 cents  per  pound  ac- 
cording to  test;  on  molasses  4 cents  a gallon;  on  coffee  3 
cents  per  pound ; on  tea  10  cents  per  pound ; and  on  hides 
I y2  cents  per  pound. 

APPLIED  RECIPROCITY. 

By  the  middle  of  March,  1892  (March  15),  all  the  coun- 
tries of  the  American  Continent  south  of  the  United  States 
had  either  assented  to  the  doctrine  of  reciprocal  trade  as  in- 
corporated in  the  McKinley  Act  of  1890,  or  had  entered 
into  negotiations  which  looked  to  a speedy  acceptance  of 
the  doctrine,  with  the  exceptions  of  Venezuela,  Hayti  and 
Colombia.  The  refusal  of  these  three  to  join  in  reciprocity 
as  offered  by  the  Act  of  1890  led  to  an  event  which  marked 
the  second  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy.  Their  refusal 
being  complete,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  President  Harri- 
son, under  the  powers  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Act,  issued 
his  proclamation  to  them,  imposing  on  their  sugars,  mo- 
lasses, coffees,  teas  and  raw  hides,  exported  to  the  United 


Hon.  John  Sherman. 

Born  at  Lancaster,  Ohio,  May  10,  1823 ; academically  educated  ; 
studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar,  May  11,  1844;  delegate  to  Whig  Na- 
tional Conventions,  1848  and  1852;  President  of  first  Republican  in  Ohio, 
1855;  elected  to  34th,  35th,  36th  and  37th  Congresses;  elected,  as  Re- 
publican, to  United  States  Senate,  March,  1861 ; re-elected  to  same, 
1866  and  1872;  appointed  Secretary  of  Treasury,  by  President  Hayes, 
March,  1877,  and  served  till  March  3,  1881  ; distinguished  for  advocacy 
of  resumption  and  success  in  refunding  United  States  debt ; re-elected 
to  Senate  for  term  beginning  March  4,  1881,  and  again  in  1886  and 
1892;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  and  member  of 
Committees  on  Finance,  Rules,  etc. 

(329) 


iut  uasxffif 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


33i 


States  and  entered  at  its  ports,  the  duties  provided  for  in  the 
Act,  which  duties  were,  as  to  sugars  and  molasses,  less  than 
under  the  Act  of  1883,  or  the  Mills  Bill,  and  amounted  to 
three  cents  a pound  on  coffee,  ten  cents  a pound  on  tea,  and 
one  and  one  half  cents  per  pound  on  hides. 

These  duties,  therefore,  as  to  coffee,  tea  and  hides,  be- 
came really  discriminative,  for  these  articles  were,  and  had 
been  for  a long  time,  upon  the  free  list  of  the  United  States. 
They  were  ratably  discriminative  as  to  sugar  and  molasses, 
which  articles  had  just  gone  upon  our  free  list;  but  then, 
these  three  countries  did  not  export  sugar  to  the  United 
States. 

In  order  to  meet  this  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy,  those 
who  opposed  it  with  the  objection  that  the  Act  of  1890  was 
unconstitutional,  as  conferring  upon  the  Executive  powers 
which  belonged  wholly  to  the  Legislative  branch  of  the 
government,  carried  a test  case  into  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court.  That  tribunal  decided  that  the  power  con- 
ferred upon  the  President  by  the  Act  was  not  unconstitu- 
tional, that  the  Congress  had  legislated  as  clearly  respecting 
the  duties  to  be  imposed  upon  the  products  of  dissenting 
countries  as  it  had  in  the  regular  schedules  of  the  Act,  and 
that  the  only  exceptional  feature  of  the  legislation,  which 
was  that  the  President  should  be  left  to  ascertain  the  date 
when  a country  refused  to  accept  reciprocity,  was  not  fatal 
to  the  Act,  since  it  was  a fact  only  which  had  to  be  ascer- 
tained, and  a fact  which  would  have  to  be  ascertained  out 
of  the  State  Department  in  any  event. 

At  this  stage,  too,  reciprocity  met  renewed  and  active 
opposition  in  the  form  of  arguments  as  to  its  cost  to  the 
people  of  this  country.  The  exports  to  the  United  States 
of  the  three  dissenting  countries  were,  in  1890,  as  follows 

15 


332 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


• Coffee.  Hides. 

Venezuela $9,662,207  $812,347 

Colombia 1,849,441  630,099 

Hayti 1,270,247  30,391 


$12,781,895  $1,472,837 


Taking  the  above  item  of  coffee,  which  represented  an  ex- 
port of  about  76,000,000  pounds,  these  opponents  argued 
that  this  quantity  of  coffee,  which  was  about  fifteen  per 
cent,  of  our  entire  annual  supply — 500,000,000  pounds — 
would,  at  three  cents  a pound,  subject  our  people  to  a tax 
of  $2,280,000  per  annum. 

To  this  the  friends  of  reciprocity  answered : — that  if  this 
duty  of  three  cents  a pound  were  levied  upon  these  coffees 
it  would  prove  not  only  discriminating  but  prohibitory,  for 
these  countries  could  not  afford  to  compete  with  other  coffee- 
growing countries  in  a market  which  was  free  to  them. 
Therefore,  in  as  much  as  no  coffee  could  come  to  us  from 
these  dissenting  countries,  our  people  would  have  no  duties 
to  pay.  But,  said  the  opposition,  in  that  event  our  annual 
supply  of  coffee  will  be  reduced,  and  we  will  have  to  pay 
more  for  what  does  come.  To  this  the  answer  was,  that 
there  is  no  market  for  those  coffees  except  in  the  United 
States,  and  that  as  they  would  have  to  come  here  ulti- 
mately, the  only  condition  upon  which  they  could  be 
marketed  was  by  the  payment  of  the  duty  by  the  pro- 
ducers ; that  is  to  say,  they  would  have  to  throw  off  the 
duty  in  order  to  enter  the  market  on  the  same  footing  as 
other  countries.  And  the  further  answer  was  given,  that 
even  if  these  coffees  never  reached  our  market,  the  vacuum 
occasioned  thereby  would  be  only  temporary,  and  would  be 
speedily  filled  by  Mexico,  Central  America  and  Brazil.  As 
an  assignee  of  this,  it  was  pointed  out  that  all  the  coffee* 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


333 


growing  countries,  notably  Brazil,  that  had  accepted  reci- 
procity, were  already  experiencing  improvement  in  their 
industrial  interests,  and  feeling  the  impetus  of  enlarged 
trade  with  the  United  States. 

ACCEPTANCE  OF  RECIPROCITY. 

This  stage  of  the  reciprocity  policy  had  been  anticipated 
by  all  the  important  sugar-producing  countries,  or  a suffi- 
cient number  of  them  to  place  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  our 
raw  sugar  supply  under  the  regulation  of  reciprocity  con- 
ventions. The  Spanish  West  Indies,  whence  forty-two  per 
cent,  of  our  supply  is  derived,  Germany,  the  British  West 
Indies,  Hawaii,  the  Philippines,  San  Domingo,  Brazil, 
Austria-Hungary,  France  and  colonies,  Central  America, 
Mexico,  had  either  accepted  reciprocity  or  called  conven- 
tions for  that  purpose.  Many  of  these  countries  had  main- 
tained high  rates  of  duty  against  exports  from  the  United 
States,  some  had  imposed  prohibitive  rates,  a few  had  for- 
bidden altogether  the  entry  of  our  products,  American  pork 
for  instance,  into  their  ports. 

The  concessions  granted  by  these  countries  in  their  reci- 
procity conventions  have  resulted  in  opening  their  ports  to 
a large  class  of  the  products  of  the  United  States,  either  by 
removing  duties  on  them  entirely,  or  by  reducing  said  duties 
to  a minimum.  Germany,  by  her  reciprocity  agreement, 
admitted  free,  or  at  reduced  rates  of  duty,  American  meats, 
fruits,  cereals,  furniture  and  farming  utensils.  France  did 
the  same  thing,  and  so  of  the  various  countries  whose  com- 
mercial interests  were  touched  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
free  list  of  imports  into  the  United  States  under  the  Act  of 
1890,  and  the  introduction  of  the  reciprocity  policy  as  a 
provision  of  said  Act. 

It  will  require  some  time  to  demonstrate  by  actual  figures 


334 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


the  permanent  effects  of  reciprocity  on  the  commerce  of  the 
nations  interested.  But  figures  are  already  attainable  which 
point  to  an  increase  of  both  imports  to  and  exports  from 
such  countries.  Brazil  accepted  the  policy  of  reciprocity 
on  April  I,  1891.  In  nine  months  time,  that  is  up  to  the 
end  of  December,  1891,  her  imports  to  this  country  showed 
$79,183,238,  as  against  $52,861,398  for  the  corresponding 
nine  months  of  1890;  while  the  exports  from  this  country 
to  Brazil  showed  $11,555,447,  as  against  $10,071,871  for  the 
same  months  of  1891  and  1890  respectively. 

The  treaty  with  Spain,  which  mostly  touched  upon  our 
commerce  with  Cuba,  took  effect  September  1,  1891.  In  the 
four  months,  ending  December  31,  1891,  the  imports  from 
Cuba  to  this  country  were  $14,956,868,  as  against  $11,782, 
023  for  the  corresponding  four  months  of  1890;  while  the 
exports  to  Cuba  were  $7,063,222  in  the  same  four  months 
of  1891,  as  against  $4,816,029  in  the  corresponding  months 
of  1890.  This  decided  increase  of  exports  to  Cuba  took 
place  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  very  high  duties  im- 
posed on  American  wheat  and  flour  entering  Cuban  ports, 
amounting  almost  to  the  cost  of  production  of  these  articles, 
or  even  their  full  market  price,  was  not  fully  reduced  to  the 
minimum  rate  agreed  upon  in  the  reciprocity  treaty,  till 
January  1,  1892. 

A FAIR  TRIAL  NEEDED. 

Whether  reciprocity  be  a step  toward  free-trade,  as  free- 
traders argue,  or  whether  a step  toward  more  rational  pro- 
tection, as  protectionists  argue,  it  ought  to  be  given  such  a 
test  as  will  forever  settle  it  as  a safe  doctrine  in  the  new 
political  economy  which  the  United  States  of  America  is 
engaged  in  writing  for  itself  and  the  entire  Western  Conti- 
nent. It  ought  to  be  so  tried  by  the  fires  of  actual  experi- 
ence as  to  consume  it  entirely  as  a commercial  policy  and 


' 

y C I 3 ■? 


y/  6 

/ 0,0.? 


Hon.  Leland  Stanford. 

Born  in  Albany  co.,  N.  Y.,  March  9,  1824 ; educated  for  bar  and  ad- 
mitted at  Albany,  1846 ; moved  to  Wisconsin  and  practiced  for  four 
years ; moved  to  California  in  1852  and  entered  commercial  pursuits  at 
Sacramento ; delegate  to  Republican  National  Convention  at  Chicago, 
1860 ; elected  Governor  of  California,  1861 ; President  of  Central  Pa- 
cific Railroad  Company ; largely  interested  in  railroads,  manufactures 
and  agriculture  of  Pacific  slope;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as 
Republican,  in  1884;  re-elected  in  1890;  term  expires  March  3,  1897  ; 
of  pleasing  address,  broad  views,  and  earnestness  of  purpose;  Chair- 
man of  Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  member  of  Committees  on 
Civil  Service,  Education  and  Labor,  Fisheries,  and  Naval  Affairs. 

(336) 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


337 


practice,  if  false,  or  establish  it  permanently,  if  true.  A 
misfortune  attending  its  introduction  is  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  subjected  to  the  phases  of  opinion  and  to  the  partisan 
criticisms  and  arguments  which  characterize  American 
politics.  It  is  really  far  removed  from  mere  parties  and 
politics,  and  is  a matter  of  truly  national  and  international 
import,  all  of  whose  essential  features  are  commercial  and 
economic. 

But  whatever  the  verdict  respecting  reciprocity,  when 
fully  tested,  may  be,  the  fact  of  its  incorporation  into  our 
statutes  and  of  its  introduction  into  our  commercial  polity, 
is  a declaration  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  that  it  has 
reached  a place  among  enlightened,  industrious,  rich  and 
progressive  nations  where  it  is  no  longer  sufficient  unto  it- 
self. The  immense  pressure  of  commercial,  manufacturing 
and  agricultural  interests  drives  us  every  day  more  and 
more  forward  and  outward  into  rivalry  with  the  old  and 
great  nations  that  have  established  their  markets  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  especially  with  those  that  have  been  es- 
tablished upon  our  own  continent  and  at  our  very  doors. 
Rivalry  of  this  kind  has,  in  times  past,  assumed  overshad- 
owing, and  often  hostile,  proportions  among  nations  anxious 
to  gain  and  hold  trade  supremacy.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  a large  per  cent,  of  the  five  million  lives  and  fifteen 
thousand  millions  of  treasure  expended  by  civilized  nations 
during  the  past  century  is  chargeable  to  their  efforts  to  en- 
large and  maintain  their  commercial  interests.  This  is  evi- 
dence of  the  magnitude  and  value  of  the  prize  sought,  as 
well  as  the  manner  of  seeking  it. 

FIRMNESS  REQUIRED. 

Happily  for  our  civilization,  reciprocity  as  incorporated  in 
our  statutes  proposes  only  a peaceful  solution  of  eommer- 


338 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


<dal  and  economic  problems  and  an  amicable  assertion  of 
3ur  industrial  supremacy  and  independence,  if  such  shall 
come  to  pass  under,  or  by  reason  of,  it.  Yet  there  should 
be  no  closing  of  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  rivalry  occasioned 
by  a step  which  bids  fair  to  be  as  momentous  as  that  of 
reciprocity  is  not  without  dangers.  One  has  but  to  consider 
the  feeling  evinced  by  the  nations  of  Europe  when  the 
policy  of  reciprocity  was  announced  in  the  United  States, 
to  be  convinced  that  they  would  not  willingly  forego  the 
advantages  of  trade  they  enjoyed  with  the  countries  to  the 
south  of  us,  on  this  continent,  but  that  they  would  struggle 
for  them  with  all  the  arts  known  to  diplomacy,  all  the  inge- 
nuity born  of  superiority,  and  all  the  finesse  bred  by  ages 
of  shrewdness  and  self-assertion.  England,  especially, 
seemed  to  have  been  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
new  departure  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  with 
her  usual  astuteness  earliest  foresaw  its  effects  on  her  mar- 
kets in  Central  and  South  American  countries.  Her  press 
became  bitter  in  its  denunciations  of  the  new  policy,  and 
when  the  difficulty  with  Chile  arose,  the  same  press  made  it 
all  too  plain  that  there  was  concerted  effort  on  the  part  of 
English  diplomats  to  crush  out  intercourse,  commercial  and 
social,  with  our  continental  neighbor.  The  United  States 
could  not  have  gone  to  war  with  Chile,  except  by  fighting 
England,  either  openly,  or  under  cover  of  deeply  disguised 
diplomacy.  The  English  idea  of  reciprocity  being  that  it 
involves  the  principle  of  lex  talionis , or  the  law  of  revenge 
— “ an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a tooth  for  a tooth  ” — it  would 
have  been  easy  for  her  to  find  arguments  or  excuses  for 
frustrating  all  our  efforts  toward  more  intimate  trade  rela- 
tions with  all  South  American  countries.  Our  imbroglio 
with  Chile  made  the  fact  almost  patent  that  foreign  nations 
stood  ready  to  challenge  our  right  to  intrench  on  their  com- 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


339 


mercial  domains  by  means  of  reciprocity,  and  their  anxiety 
and  attitude  showed  that  they  were  more  fully  aware  of  the 
effects  of  reciprocity  on  their  trade  in  these  countries  than 
even  our  wisest  statesmen  and  shrewdest  merchants  had 
been. 

WHAT  EUROPE  STRIVES  FOR. 

Heretofore,  England,  Germany,  France  and  Italy  had 
been  struggling,  neck  and  neck,  for  the  markets  of  Central 
and  South  America,  not  to  say  Mexico.  They  had  used 
every  art  and  artifice  known  to  diplomacy  and  commerce  to 
head  off  rivalry  and  establish  supremacy.  They  manufac- 
tured and  priced  and  labelled  with  specific  intent  to  occupy 
markets.  They  established  lines  of  steamers,  whose  gauge 
and  velocity  were  best  adapted  for  intercourse.  They  sub- 
sidized ocean  transit  to  secure  dispatch.  They  founded 
banks  and  commercial  houses.  They  loaned  credit  on  most 
desperate  securities.  They  sent  drummers,  agents  and  in- 
terested parties  to  prospect,  persuade  and  represent.  They 
formed  huge  syndicates  which  took  possession  of  great  in- 
terests, like  the  nitre  beds,  and  worked  them  at  immense 
profit.  The  result  was  that  they  came  to  own  and  control 
the  markets  of  South  America.  The  productions  of  these 
countries,  destined  for  the  United  States,  came  here  in  the 
ships  of  Europe  and  by  way  of  European  ports,  where  they 
paid  the  rich  bounty  of  ocean  freight  and  the  inevitable 
commissions  for  handling  that  the  European  merchant  has 
ever  been  privileged  to  suck  from  the  world’s  goods  in  transit. 
Two  or  three  steamers  a month  sufficed  to  carry  to  these 
countries  all  they  cared  to  take  from  us  in  the  shape  of  our 
products.  The  bulk  of  what  they  had  sold  us — many  times 
over  and  over  again  what  we  had  sold  them — was  paid  for 
in  gold,  through  European  houses,  with  another  commission 
for  handling. 


340 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


Europe  saw  that  every  bill  of  goods  we  could  place  to 
our  credit,  in  a South  American  port,  would  be  deducted 
from  her  account.  Hence  her  nervousness,  her  hostility. 
She  could  not,  she  would  not,  sit  idly  by  and  witness  this 
inroad  upon  her  trade,  this  disturbance  of  the  commercial 
nests  she  had  built  in  the  Central  and  South  American 
States.  In  affairs  of  this  kind,  and  amid  such  conditions, 
affairs  and  conditions  which  concern  only  national  pocket- 
books  and  national  prestige,  there  is  absolutely  no  senti- 
.ment,  nothing  to  be  hoped  for  from  real  or  imaginary 
national  condescension  or  sympathy.  We  must  expect  just 
what  is  sure  to  come,  unless  all  history  belies  itself,  to  wit, 
the  criticism,  the  antagonism,  the  counter  efforts  of  the 
nations  whose  interests  are  touched  and  whose  trade  is 
threatened.  We  must  even  expect  more,  for  conditions 
may  arise,  as  they  have  not  infrequently  done,  which  shall 
require  that  we  be  prepared  to  hold  at  any  cost  what  we 
have  striven  to  obtain  through  ordinary  diplomatic  and 
commercial  avenues,  what  is  as  much  our  right  as  a nation 
as  it  is  the  right  of  any  other  nation,  what  geographically 
speaking  is  more  naturally  our  own  than  that  of  any  nation 
across  the  sea,  and  what  by  similarity  of  political  institu- 
tions and  continental  instinct  is  ours  rather  than  a stranger’s. 
It  can  be  but  a short  while  before  the  reflex  action  of  reci- 
procity upon  the  American  Republics  becomes  its  most  elo- 
quent argument  and  surest  guarantee  of  a permanent  foot- 
hold. For  it  is  destined  to  repeat  in  commerce  the  history 
which  led  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  diplbmacy  and  politics. 
There  may  never  be  an  American  Bund,  a distinctive  Con- 
tinental Commercial  Union,  but  as  the  advantages  of  reci- 
procity with  such  a people  as  that  of  the  United  States, 
with  a market  the  highest  priced  and  richest  in  the  world, 
with  ports  that  are  nearest  and  most  accessible,  come  to  be 


RECIPROCITY  IN  AMERICA. 


341 


fully  appreciated  by  the  American  Republics,  there  will  be 
such  a consensus  of  commercial  view,  such  a blending  of 
trade  interests,  such  a harmony  of  industrial  instincts,  as 
will  surprise  the  older  nations  with  its  strength  and  effi- 
ciency. 

COMMERCIAL  EMANCIPATION. 

When  the  “ Monroe  Doctrine,”  which  was  a broad  hint 
to  Europe  that  monarchical  interference  with  the  spirit  of 
Republicanism  in  America  might  give  occasion  for  a com- 
mon cause  on  the  part  of  the  rising  Republics  against  such 
interference,  fell  into  seeming  desuetude,  it  but  required  the 
French  threat  upon  Mexico  in  1864-65  to  set  aflame  all  the 
Republics  of  South  America,  and  in  Convention  at  Lima 
they  made  it  quite  plain  that  meddling  of  that  kind  with 
American  affairs  would  result  in  united  opposition,  even  to 
the  verge  of  force.  What,  therefore,  has  become  true  in  a 
political  sense,  will  become  equally  true  in  a commercial 
sense.  The  year  1890  and  the  policy  of  reciprocity  in 
American  commerce  are  as  much  of  a departure  and  as 
much  the  beginning  of  a continental  era,  looking  to  freedom 
and  independence,  as  were  the  year  1824  and  the  Panama 
Congress,  of  which  Congress  Simon  Bolivar  said  in  his 
call : — “ The  day  our  plenipotentiaries  make  the  exchanges 
of  their  powers  will  stamp  in  the  diplomatic  history  of  the 
world  an  immortal  epoch.  When,  after  a hundred  cen- 
turies, posterity  shall  search  for  the  origin  of  our  public 
law,  and  shall  remember  the  compacts  that  solidified  its 
destiny,  they  will  finger  with  respect  the  protocols  of  the 
Isthmus.  In  them  they  will  find  the  plan  of  the  first 
alliances  that  shall  sketch  the  mark  of  our  relations  with 
the  universe.  What,  then,  shall  be  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth 
as  compared  with  the  Isthmus  of  Panama?” 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  1888. 

Republican.  Democrat. 


Benj. 

Levi  P. 

Grover 

Allen  G. 

Basis  of 

Harrison, 

Morton, 

Cleveland,  Thurman, 

States.  1 54r325' 

Votes. 

Ind. 

N.  Y. 

N.  Y. 

Ohio. 

Alabama 

. 8 

10 

10 

10 

Arkansas 

• 5 

7 

7 

7 

California 

. 6 

8 

8 

8 

Colorado 

. 1 

3 

3 

3 

Connecticut. . . 

• 4 

6 

6 

6 

Delaware 

. 1 

3 

. . 

. , 

3 

3 

Florida 

. 2 

4 

# . 

4 

4 

Georgia 

.10 

12 

. . 

12 

12 

Illinois 

.20 

22 

22 

22 

Indiana 

•13 

15 

15 

15 

Iowa 

.11 

13 

13 

13 

Kansas 

. 7 

9 

9 

9 

Kentucky 

.11 

13 

. . 

13 

13 

Louisiana 

. 6 

8 

8 

8 

Maine 

• 4 

6 

6 

*6 

Maryland 

. 6 

8 

. . 

8 

8 

Massachusetts  . 

. 12 

14 

14 

14 

Michigan 

.31 

13 

13 

13 

Minnesota 

• 5 

7 

7 

7 

Mississippi  . . . . 

• 7 

9 

9 

9 

Missouri 

.14 

16 

# . 

. . 

16 

16 

Nebraska 

• 3 

S 

5 

5 

Nevada 

3 

3 

3 

New  Hampshire  2 

4 

4 

4 

New  Jersey. . . 

• 7 

9 

. . 

. . 

9 

9 

New  York.  . . . 

•34 

36 

36 

36 

North  Carolina 

• 9 

11 

11 

11 

Ohio 

.21 

23 

23 

23 

Oregon 

. 1 

3 

3 

3 

Pennsylvania  . . 

.28 

3° 

30 

3° 

Rhode  Island. 

. 2 

4 

4 

4 

South  Carolina. 

7 

9 

9 

9 

Tennessee  .... 

. 10 

12 

12 

12 

Texas 

.11 

13 

13 

13 

Vermont 

. 2 

4 

4 

4 

Virginia 

. 10 

12 

12 

12 

West  Virginia. 

• 4 

6 

. . 

. . 

6 

6 

Wisconsin  .... 

• 9 

Ii 

11 

11 

Totals.  . . .325 

401 

233 

233 

168 

168 

The  Popular  Vote. — Harrison,  5438,157 — 20  States;  Cleveland,  5,535,- 
626 — 18  States;  Prohibition,  250,157;  Labor,  150,624. 

342 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


343 


ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  1884. 


Democrat. 

Grover  Thos.  A. 


Republican. 
James  G.  John  A. 


Alabama 

. 8 

10 

10 

10 

Arkansas 

■ 5 

7 

7 

7 

California  . . . . , 

. 6 

8 

8 

8 

Colorado 

1 

3 

. . 

, . 

3 

3 

Connecticut. . . . 

4 

6 

6 

6 

Delaware 

3 

3 

3 

Florida 

. 2 

4 

4 

4 

Georgia 

.10 

12 

12 

12 

Illinois 

20 

22 

. # 

# . 

22 

22 

Indiana 

13 

15 

15 

15 

Iowa 

.11 

13 

. . 

. . 

13 

13 

Kansas 

7 

9 

. . 

. . 

9 

9 

Kentucky 

11 

13 

13 

13 

Louisiana 

. 6 

8 

8 

8 

Maine 

• 4 

6 

. . . 

, , 

6 

6 

Maryland 

6 

8 

8 

8 

Massachusetts  . . 

12 

14 

. . 

, . 

14 

14 

Michigan 

.11 

13 

. . 

. . 

13 

13 

Minnesota  

. 5 

7 

. . 

, . 

7 

7 

Mississippi . . . . 

■ 7 

9 

9 

9 

Missouri 

•14 

16 

16 

16 

Nebraska 

• 3 

5 

• • 

. . 

5 

5 

Nevada 

3 

. . 

3 

3 

New  Hampshire  2 

4 

. . 

. . 

4 

4 

New  Jersey. . . . 

7 

9 

9 

9 

New  York 

34 

36 

36 

36 

North  Carolina. 

9 

11 

11 

11 

Ohio . . . , 

.21 

23 

. . 

. . 

23 

23 

Oregon 

. 1 

3 

. . 

3 

3 

Pennsylvania.  . . 

.28 

30 

. . 

30 

30 

Rhode  Island  . . 

. 2 

4 

. . 

. . 

4 

4 

South  Carolina. 

7 

9 

9 

9 

Tennessee  . . . . , 

. 10 

12 

12 

12 

Texas 

11 

13 

13 

13 

Vermont 

. 2 

4 

. . 

4 

4 

Virginia 

.10 

12 

12 

12 

West  Virginia. . 

■ 4 

6 

6 

6 

Wisconsin 

• 9 

11 

•• 

•• 

11 

11 

Totals 325 

401 

219 

219 

182 

182 

Popular  Vote. — Cleveland,  4,911,017 — States,  20;  Blaine,  4,848,334 — 
States,  18;  Butler,  Greenback -Labor,  133,825;  St.  John,  Prohibition,  151,809; 
Scattering,  11,362. 


344 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


PREVIOUS  ELECTORAL  VOTES. 


Republican.  1880.  Democrat. 

James  A.  Garfield,  O.,  214  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  N.  Y.,  155 

Chester  A.  Arthur,  N.  Y.,  214  Wm.  H.  English,  Ind.,  155 

Total  electoral  vote,  369 ; 38  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Garfield,  4,449,053 — 19  States;  Hancock, 4,442,035 — 19 
States;  Weaver,  Greenback,  308,578  ; Prohibition,  10,305;  American,  707 ; 
Scattering,  989. 


Republican.  1876. 

R.  B.  Hayes,  Ohio,  185 
W.  A.  Wheeler,  N.  Y.,  185 
Total  electoral  vote,  369;  38  States. 
Popular  Vote. — Hayes,  4,033,950 — 21 
States;  Cooper,  Greenback,  81,740;  Smith, 
539;  Scattering,  14,7 1 5- 


Democrat. 

S.  J.  Tilden,  N.  Y.,  184 

T.  A.  Hendricks,  Ind.,  184 

States;  Tilden,  4,284,885 — 17 
Prohibition,  9,522;  American, 


Republican.  1872.  Democrat. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant,  111.,  286  Horace  Greeley 

Henry  Wilson,  Mass.,  286  B.  Gratz  Brow* 

Total  electoral  vote,  366;  37  States. 

Popular  Vote. — The  death  of  Mr.  Greeley  before  the  electoral  count 
caused  the  seattering  of  his  66  votes  among  various  candidates.  The  votes 
of  Louisiana  and  Arkansas  were  not  counted  on  account  of  fraudulent  returns. 
Grant,  3,597,071 — 31  States;  Greeley,  2,834,079 — 6 States;  O’Connor,  Labor, 
29,408;  Black,  Prohibition,  5,608. 


Republican.  1868.  Democrat. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant,  111.,  214  Horatio  Seymour,  N.  Y.,  80 

Schuyler  Colfax,  Ind.,  214  Francis  P.  Blair,  Mo.,  80 

Total  electoral  vote,  317;  34  States;  Mississippi,  Texas  and  Virginia  still  in 
rebellion,  and  not  voting. 

Popular  Vote. — Grant,  3,015,071 — 26  States;  Seymour,  2,709,613 — 8 
States. 


Republican.  1 864.  Democrat. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  111.,  212  Geo.  B.  McClellan,  N.  J.,  21 

Andrew  Johnson,  Tenn.,  212  Geo.  H.  Pendleton,  Ohio,  21 

Total  electoral  vote,  314;  not  voting,  11  States  in  rebellion. 

Popular  Vote. — Lincoln,  2,216,067—22  States;  McClellan,  1,808,725 — 
3 States. 


Hon.  William  M.  Stewart. 


Born  in  Wayne  co.,  N.  Y.,  August  9,  1827 ; attended  Yale  College, 
1849-50  ; started  for  California  and  arrived  May,  1850;  engaged  in  min- 
ing; studied  law  in  1852;  appointed  District  Attorney  in  1853,  and 
elected  next  year;  appointed  Attorney-General  of  California,  1854; 
located  at  Virginia  city,  Nev.,  1860;  engrossed  in  mining  litigation  and 
development  of  mining  industry;  member  of  Territorial  Convention, 
1861 ; member  of  Constitutional  Convention,  1863;  elected  U.  S.  .Senator, 
1864  and  1869  ; resumed  general  law  practice  for  Pacific  States ; re- 
elected to  U.  S.  Senate,  as  a Republican,  for  term  beginning  March  4, 
1887;  prominent  advocate  of  Free  Silver  Coinage ; Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Mines  and  Mining,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Apropria- 
tions,  Claims,  Irrigation,  Territories. 

(345) 


c?  mans 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


347 


Republican.  i860.  Democrat. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  111.,  180  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  111.,  12 

Hannibal  Hamlin  Me.,  180  H.  V.  Johnson,  Ga.,  12 

Jno.  C.  Breckinridge,  Ky.,  72 
J.  Lane,  Oregon,  72 

Constitutional  Union. 

John  Bell,  Tenn.,  39 

Edward  Everett,  Mass.,  39 

Total  electoral  vote,  303 ; 33  States. 


Popular  Vote. — Lincoln,  1,866,352 — 17  States,  N.  J.  divided;  Douglas, 
i»375,157 — 1 State,  N.  J.,  divided;  Breckinridge,  845,763 — 11  States;  Bell, 
589,581 — 3 States. 

Democrat.  1856.  Republican. 

James  Buchanan,  Pa.,  174  Jno.  C.  Fremont,  Cal.,  114 

Jno.  C.  Breckinridge,  Ky.,  174  William  L.  Dayton,  N.  Y.,  114 

American. 

Millard  Fillmore,  N.  Y.,  8 
A.  J.  Donelson,  Tenn.,  8 
Total  electoral  vote,  296;  31  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Buchanan,  1,838,169 — 19  States;  Fremont,  1,341,264 — 
11  States;  Fillmore,  874,534 — 1 State. 


Democrat. 

1852. 

Whig. 

Franklin  Pearce,  N.  H.,  254 

Winfield  Scott,  Va.,  42 

William  R.  King,  Ala.,  254 

Wm.  A.  Graham,  N.  C.,  42 

Total  electoral  vote,  296;  31  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Pearce,  1,601,474 — 27  States ; Scott,  1,386,578 — 4 States; 
Hale,  156,149. 


Whig. 

1848. 

Democrat. 

Zachary  Taylor,  La.,  163 

Lewis  Cass,  Mich., 

127 

Millard  Fillmore,  N.  Y.,  163 

Wm.  0.  Butler,  Ky., 

127 

Total  electoral  vote,  290;  30  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Taylor,  1,360,101 — 15  States;  Cass,  1,220,544 — 15 
States;  Van  Buren,  N.  Y.,  Free-soil  Dem.,  291,263. 


Democrat.  1844.  Whig. 

James  K.  Polk,  Tenri.,  170  Henry  Clay,  Ky.,  105 

George  M.  Dallas,  Pa.,  170  Theo.  Frelinghuysen,  N.  J.,  105 

Total  electoral  vote,  275 ; 26  States. 


34§ 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


Popular  Vote.— Polk,  1,337,243 — 15  States;  Clay,  1,299,068 — 11  States; 
Birney,  62,300. 


Whig.  1840. 

William  Henry  Harrison,  Ohio,  234 
John  Tyler,  Va.,  234 

Total  electoral  vote,  294 ; 26  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Harrison,  1,275,017 — 19  States;  Van  Buren,  1,128,702 
— 7 States;  Birney,  7,059. 


Democrat. 

Martin  Van  Buren,  N.  Y.,  60 
R.  M.  Johnson,  Ky.,  48 


Democrat.  1836.  Whig. 

Martin  Van  Buren,  N.  Y.,  170  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  O.,  73 

R.  M.  Johnson,  Ky.,  147  F.  Granger,  N.  Y.,  77 

Total  electoral  vote,  294;  26  States. 

Popular  Vote. — Van  Buren,  761,549 — 15  States;  Harrison,  7 States; 
White,  2 States;  Webster,  1 State;  Mangum,  1 State — 236,656  votes. 

Democrat.  1832.  Nat.  Republican. 

Andrew  Jackson,  Tenn.,  219  Henry  Clay,  Ky.,  49 

Martin  Van  Buren,  N.  Y.,  189  J.  Sergeant,  Pa.,  49 

Anti- Mason. 

William  Wirt,  Va.,  7 
Amos  Ellmaker,  Pa.,  7 
Total  electoral  vote,  288. 

Popular  Vote. — Andrew  Jackson,  687,502;  Henry  Clay,  530,189;  Wil- 
liam Wirt,  33,108. 


Democrat.  1828.  Nat.  Republican. 

Andrew  Jackson,  Tenn.,  178  Jno.  Q.  Adams,  Mass.,  83 

Jno.  C.  Calhoun,  S.  C.,  17 1 Richard  Rush,  Pa.,  83 

Total  electoral  vote,  261. 

From  the  time  of  the  disputed  election,  which  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
John  Adams,  the  popular  vote  began  to  be  regarded  as  of  importance. 

Popular  Vote. — Jackson,  647,231 — States,  15 ; Adams,  509,097 — States.  9 


Republican. 

1824.  Andrew  Jackson,  Tenn.,  99 

John  Q.  Adams,  Mass.,  84  ( 

W.  H.  Crawford,  Ga.,  41  / 

Henry  Clay,  Ky.,  37  J 

Jno.  C.  Calhoun,  S.  C.,  182  I 
N.  Sanford,  N,  Y.,  30  / 

Total  electoral  vote,  261. 


y For  President. 
For  V.-Prcsident. 


PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


349 


There  being  no  choice  for  President  under  the  Twelfth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which  requires  that  a can- 
didate shall  have  a majority  of  all  the  electoral  votes,  the 
election  was  thrown  into  the  House.  In  the  contest  in  the 
House,  Clay,  who  was  out  of  the  fight,  threw  his  strength, 
or  as  much  of  it  as  he  could  control,  to  Adams,  which  gave 
him  13  States,  as  against  7 for  Jackson  and  4 for  Crawford. 
Though  the  election  of  Adams  was  perfectly  regular  and 
constitutional,  it  forced  the  liberal  and  strict  schools  of  in- 
terpreters wide  apart,  and  the  latter,  carrying  their  fight  to 
the  country  in  the  shape  of  a rebuke  to  those  Representa- 
tives who  had  slaughtered  Jackson,  soon  had  the  vantage 
ground. 


Republican. 


1820  James  Monroe,  Va., 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
Total  electoral  vote,  235.  The  Missouri 
Hampshire  gave  one  vote  to  J.  Q.  Adams. 

231 

N.  Y.,  218 

vote  was  disputed;  and  New 

Republican. 

James  Monroe,  Va.,  183 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  N.  Y.,  183 
Total  electoral  vote,  221. 

1816. 

Federal.. 

Rufus  King,  N.  Y.,  34 
No  nom.  for  V.-P. 

Republican. 

James  Madison,  Va.,  128 
Elbridge  Gerry,  Mass.,  131 
Total  electoral  vote,  218. 

1812. 

Fed.  or  Clinton  Dem. 

De  Witt  Clinton,  N.  V.,  89 
Jared  Ingersoll,  Pa.,  86 

Republican. 

James  Madison,  Va.,  122 
George  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  113 
Total  electoral  vote,  176. 

1808. 

Federal. 

C.  C.  Pinckney,  S.  C.,  47 
Rufus  King,  N.  Y.,  47 

Republican. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  Va.,  162 
George  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  162 
Total  electoral  vote,  176. 

1804. 

Federal. 

C.  C.  Pinckney,  S.  C.,  14 
Rufus  King,  N.  Y.,  14 

PRESIDENTIAL  VOTES. 


350 

This  was  the  first  National  election  which  distinguished 
between  nominees  for  President  and  Vice-President,  under 
Twelfth  Amendment  to  Federal  Constitution. 

Republican.  1 800.  Federal. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  Va.,  73  John  Adams,  Mass.,  65 

Aaron  Burr,  N.  Y.,  73  C.  C.  Pinckney,  S.  C.,  64 

As  there  was,  up  till  this  time,  no  distinction  between 
nominees  for  President  and  Vice-President — the  one  having 
the  highest  number  of  votes  being  the  President — and  Jeffer- 
son and  Burr  having  each  73  votes,  the  election  went  to  the 
House,  where  a prolonged  and  bitter  struggle  ensued,  re- 
sulting in  the  choice  of  Jefferson.  This  dispute  led  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Twelfth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution. 


Federal. 

John  Adams,  Mass.,  71 
Thos.  Pinckney,  Md.,  59 
Total  electoral  vote,  138. 


1 796.  Republican. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  Va.,  68 
Aaron  Burr,  N.  Y.,  30 


Federal.  1792.  Republican . 

George  Washington,  Va.,  132  Geo.  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  50 

John  Adams,  Mass.,  77 

Total  electoral  vote,  135. 

1788. 

George  Washington  was  nominated  by  a caucus  of  the 
Continental  Congress.  The  State  Legislatures  chose  elec- 
tors for  President  and  Vice-President  on  the  first  Wednes- 
day of  January,  1789.  These  electors  voted  on  the  first  Wed- 
nesday in  February,  casting  69  votes  for  Washington  as 
President,  and  34  for  John  Adams  as  Vice-President. 
Washington  was  sworn  into  office  by  Chancellor  Living- 
stone on  April  29,  1789. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

OF 

Benjamin  Harrison; 

Twenty-third  President  of  the  United  States. 


I. 

PARENTAGE,  BIRTH  AND  EDUCATION. 

In  that  grand  uprising  in  England,  in  1648,  against  the 
tyrannical  usurpations  of  Charles  I.,  one  of  the  conspicuous 
figures  in  the  army  of  Cromwell  was  his  trusted  lieutenant, 
General  Harrison.  His  commission  in  Cromwell’s  army 
tells  the  whole  story  of  his  political  and  religious  convic- 
tions. The  cause  was  that  of  constitutional  liberty  against 
despotism,  of  republicanism  against  monarchy.  In  a re- 
ligious sense  it  was  not  exactly  straight-out  Presbyterianism 
against  an  established  church,  for  many  Presbyterians  stood 
hand  in  hand  with  the  Royalists,  but  it  was  the  Indepen- 
dents against  the  combined  forces  which  represented  a 
hated  dynasty. 

This  General  Harrison  was  made  a member  of  the  High 
Court  of  Justice,  which  sat  in  Westminster  Hall,  and  before 
which  Charles  I.  was  tried  for  high  treason,  in  levying  war 
against  his  Parliament.  He  signed,  with  the  rest,  the  King’s 
death  warrant,  and  thus  contributed  to  that  wonderful  march 
16  (353) 


354 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


of  events  which  placed  England  beyond  the  grasp  of  des- 
potic rulers  and  taught  the  people  that  true  sovereignty  re- 
sided in  them. 

When  the  great  reaction  came,  and  Charles  II.  was  firmly 
seated  on  the  throne,  there  was  a day  of  revengeful  reckon- 
ing. The  head  of  every  patriot  who  had  participated  in  the 
Constitutional  struggle  was  in  demand,  or  rather  his  neck 
was  in  danger,  for  the  rope  and  not  the  block  must  crown 
the  verdict  against  those  who  had  dared  to  strike  a blow  for 
political  and  religious  freedom.  The  trials  were  hasty  and 
ex  parte , and  the  executions  were  swift.  Among  the  first 
to  feel  the  vengeance  of  the  new  King  was  General  Har- 
rison, whose  life  was  taken  by  royal  order  on  October  13, 
1660.  Samuel  Pepys  in  his  diary  under  the  above  date  says : 
“ I went  out  to  Charing  Cross  to  see  Major-General  Har- 
rison hanged,  drawn  and  quartered ; which  was  done  there, 
he  looking  as  cheerful  as  any  man  could  do  in  that  condi- 
tion. He  was  presently  cut  down,  and  his  head  and  heart 
shown  to  the  people,  at  which  there  was  great  shouts  of 
joy.  It  is  said,  that  he  said  that  he  was  sure  to  come 
shortly  at  the  right  hand  of  Christ  to  judge  them  that  now 
had  judged  him;  and  that  his  wife  do  expect  his  coming 
again.  Thus  it  was  my  chance  to  see  the  King  beheaded  at 
Whitehall,  and  to  see  the  first  blood  shed  in  revenge  for  the 
King  at  Charing  Cross.” 

There  could  be  no  comfort  nor  prosperity  in  England  for 
a family  which  had  contributed  so  largely  to  constitutional 
liberty,  and  one  of  whose  most  conspicuous  members  had 
suffered  the  disgrace  of  the  scaffold.  They  therefore  turned 
their  eyes  toward  America,  and  along  with  the  great  stream 
which  fled  the  persecutions  of  the  Stuarts  found  an  asylum 
on  our  Virginia  shores. 

That  they  were  welcome  contributors  to  colonial  enter- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


355 


prise  and  important  factors  in  the  establishment  of  political 
institutions  in  their  new  home  is  quite  clear  from  the  fact 
that  Benjamin  Harrison,  great-grandfather  of  our  subject, 
and  after  whom  he  was  named,  appears  conspicuously  in 
Virginia  annals.  He  was  a member  of  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, or  Colonial  Legislature,  and  a staunch  patriot,  stand- 
ing in  with  the  heroes  who  echoed  the  grand  sentiment  of 
Patrick  Henry,  “ Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death ! ” 

At  ten  o’clock,  September  5,  1774,  Delegates  from  all  the 
Colonies,  except  Georgia,  met  at  Carpenters’  Hall,  Philadel- 
phia, and  began  the  first  session  of  the  First  Continental 
Congress.  The  British  “ Tea  Act  ” of  1773  had  been  passed, 
and  the  call  was  for  a “ Congress  of  American  States  to 
frame  a bill  of  rights,  or  form  an  Independent  State,  an 
American  Commonwealth.”  The  representatives  to  this 
Congress  from  Virginia  were  Peyton  Randolph,  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  George  Washington,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard 
Bland,  Benjamin  Harrison  and  Edward  Pendleton. 

Out  of  this  Congress  sprang  the  measures  looking  to  a 
Declaration  of  Independence,  an  American  army  and  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  At  its  second  session,  composed 
of  nearly  the  same  members,  but  now  assembled  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  re- 
ported, agreed  upon  and  signed  by  the  delegates  from  twelve 
States,  July  4,  1776.  Among  the  signatures  to  this  im- 
mortal instrument  is  that  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Virginia, 
which  colony  had  by  this  time  formed  an  independent  local 
government.  In  the  young  State  honors  fell  thick  upon 
him.  He  was  a member  of  the  convention  that  ratified  the 
Federal  Constitution,  served  four  years  in  Congress,  and 
was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  three  times.  Throughout 
his  entire  life  he  was  a steadfast  adherent  of  independence, 
and  a firm  opponent  of  English  aggressions.  He  was  one 


356 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


of  the  largest  men  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and  it  is 
narrated  that  when  John  Hancock  was  elected  President  of 
that  body,  Harrison  was  so  elated  over  the  situation  that  he 
rushed  to  Hancock,  lifted  him  bodily  from  his  seat  and  bore 
him  in  his  arms  to  the  chair. 

His  son,  William  Henry  Harrison,  afterwards  General  and 
President,  was  born  and  educated  in  Virginia.  On  reaching 
manhood  he  migrated  to  Ohio,  then  the  far  West,  and  for 
forty  years  was  prominently  identified  with  the  interests, 
perils  and  hopes  of  that  and  the  Northwest  country.  He 
took  with  him  an  intellect  enriched  with  classical  reminis- 
cences which  he  fondly  quoted  in  writing  and  conversation, 
a full  assortment  of  the  political  doctrines  inculcated  by  his 
illustrious  father,  and  all  of  the  Harrison  fortitude  in  the 
maintenance  of  his  convictions.  He  went  West,  not  so 
much  as  a permanent  settler,  at  first,  as  a soldier,  and  as  an 
aide-de-camp  to  General  Anthony  Wayne,  then  engaged  in 
protecting  the  frontiers  from  Indian  depredations.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  that  military  career  which  continually 
brightened  in  lustre  till  General  Harrison  came  to  rank  as 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  military  officers  of  his  day. 

After  the  State  of  Ohio  was  carved  out  of  the  Territory 
of  the  Northwest  in  1802,  the  remainder  of  the  immense 
area  stretching  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  Canadian  border 
became  the  Territory  of  Indiana.  It  was  an  important  sec- 
tion, being  the  home  of  many  hostile  Indian  tribes,  mostly 
subsidized  by  English  gold,  and  a favorite  avenue  of  ap- 
proach to  our  Western  settlements  by  English  and  Indian 
armies.  This  became  very  clear  prior  to  and  during  the  war 
of  1812.  With  a view  to  having  a man  of  military  expe- 
rience and  stamina  in  so  dangerous  and  unprotected  a 
region,  President  Madison  made  General  Harrison  Governor 
of  the  Territory  of  Indiana.  He  was  none  too  soon  with 


i.-- 


Hon.  James  0.  Blaine. 

Born  in  Washington  co.,  Pa.,  January  30,  1830;  educated  at  Wash- 
ington College  ; taught  school  in  Kentucky  and  Philadelphia ; editor  of 
Kennebec  (Me.)  Journal,  1854;  of  Portland  Advertiser,  1857;  elected 
to  Maine  Legislature,  1859 ; elected  to  Congress,  1863-65-67 ; Speaker 
of  House,  1869-71-73;  U.  S.  Senator,  1876;  prominent  candidate  for 
Presidency  before  Conventions  of  1876-80;  Secretary  of  State  under 
Garfield;  Republican  candidate  for  Presidency,  1884;  defeated  by 
Cleveland ; conspicuous  before  conventions  of  1888-92 ; Secretary  of 
State  under  Harrison;  resigned  June  4,  1892;  celebrated  as  orator  and 
author ; most  prominent  of  modern  statesmen. 

(358) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


359 


this  appointment,  for  in  the  spring  of  1 8 1 1 the  famous 
chieftain,  Tecumseh,  instigated  by  British  emissaries,  began 
his  celebrated  war,  designed  to  expel  the  settlers  from  all 
the  country  north  of  the  Ohio.  In  the  fall,  General  Har- 
rison led  2,000  troops  up  the  Wabash  to  the  mouth  of  Tip- 
pecanoe Creek,  where,  November  7,  1811,  was  fought  the 
celebrated  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  in  which  the  Indians,  in 
overwhelming  force,  were  badly  defeated.  After  the  break- 
ing out  of  hostilities  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  in  1812,  General  Harrison  organized  and  took  com- 
mand of  “ The  Army  of  the  West,”  whose  rendezvous  was 
near  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie.  He  fought  many  en- 
gagements with  the  Indian  forces  under  Proctor  and 
Tecumseh,  built  and  maintained  Fort  Meigs  and  received 
the  celebrated  dispatch  from  Commodore  Perry,  after  he 
had  destroyed  the  British  fleet  on  Lake  Erie — “ We  have 
met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours.” 

General  Harrison  embarked  his  army  on  Perry’s  victor- 
ious fleet,  sailed  across  the  lake,  invaded  Canada,  caught  up 
with  the  Indian  and  mixed  forces  under  Proctor  and 
Tecumseh  at  the  Thames,  where  in  a masterly  battle  he  an- 
nihilated them,  Tecumseh  being  among  the  killed.  This 
battle  recovered  the  entire  Michigan  region  to  the  United 
States,  and  terminated  the  War  of  1812  in  the  Northwest. 

General  Harrison’s  fame  was  now  as  wide  as  that  of  his 
country.  He  was  honored  for  his  military  prowess  as  much 
as  he  was  respected  in  the  walks  of  peace.  In  after  years 
he  held  several  important  civic  offices,  and  was  elected  to 
Congress,  chosen  as  American  Minister  to  the  Republic  of 
Colombia,  and  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  from 
Ohio,  in  1827.  He  appeared  in  that  body  as  a tall,  gray- 
haired gentleman,  of  dignified  demeanor,  deliberate  speech 
and  firm  Whig  proclivities,  and  readily  made  his  mark 


360 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


among  such  worthies  as  John  Henry  Eaton,  Tazewell  and 
Randolph,  Henry  Clay,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Nathaniel 
Macon,  Martin  Van  Buren,  J.  McPherson  Berrien,  Dudley 
Chase,  Horatio  Seymour  and  Albion  Keith  Parris,  though 
he  never  dreamed  of  the  higher  honors  in  store  for  him. 

The  political  situation  during  the  administration  of  Martin 
Van  Buren  (1837-1841)  was  peculiar.  The  Southern  nulli- 
fiers,  who  had  been  “ squelched  ” by  Jackson,  began  to  re- 
vive and  put  on  airs  during  Van  Buren’s  term.  The  country 
was  feeling  to  the  fullest  extent  the  disastrous  policy  of  tar- 
iff reduction,  and  absolute  ruin  was  staring  our  manufac- 
turers and  workingmen  in  the  face.  The  State  banks  were 
failing  by  the  score.  The  Government  stopped  its  appro- 
priations towards  internal  improvements.  In  a word,  the 
panic  of  1837  was  on,  and  business  was  at  a standstill. 
Pork  sold  in  Ohio  at  three  dollars  a hundred  pounds,  wheat 
for  fifty  cents  a bushel,  and  wages  on  the  farm  fell  to  thirty- 
seven  and  a half  cents  a day. 

The  Whigs  took  the  initiative  in  the  coming  Presidential 
struggle,  and  nominated  General  William  Henry  Harrison, 
at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  on  December  4,  1839.  Clay,  the  ablest 
Whig,  and  most  popular  and  magnetic  man  in  his  party, 
was  not  regarded  as  an  available  candidate  at  that  juncture, 
owing  to  certain  antagonisms.  Besides,  Jackson’s  military 
record  had  counted  for  much,  and  there  was  no  reason 
why  one  equally  as  brilliant  might  not  avail  General  Harri- 
son. The  Democrats  renominated  Van  Buren.  Then  be- 
gan the  historic  political  campaign  of  1840,  which  surpassed 
in  excitement  and  intensity  of  feeling  all  others,  before  or 
since.  An  imprudent  Democratic  writer  sneeringly  re- 
marked that  General  Harrison  lived  in  a log  cabin  and  had 
better  remain  there.  Instantly  the  Whigs  adopted  the  log 
cabin  as  one  of  their  emblems,  and  log  cabins  were  raised 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


361 


everywhere  for  Whig  headquarters,  some  of  them  of  large 
size,  and  nearly  every  voting  precinct  had  its  Tippecanoe 
club  and  choristers.  For  the  first  time  in  our  land  the 
power  of  song  was  invoked  to  aid  a national  canvass.  The 
poetry  of  the  occasion  mostly  took  the  shape  of  parody, 
but  was  made  to  contain  a vast  amount  of  wit  and  many 
hard  hits.  A sample  is  apropos  : 

“ Oh ! dear  to  my  soul  are  the  days  of  our  glory, 

The  time-honored  days  of  our  national  pride ; 

When  heroes  and  statesmen  ennobled  our  story. 

And  boldly  the  foes  of  our  country  defied ; 

When  victory  hung  o’er  our  flag  proudly  waving, 

And  the  battle  was  fought  by  the  valiant  and  true, 

For  our  homes  and  our  loved  ones,  the  enemy  braving, 

Oh  ! then  stood  the  soldier  of  Tippecanoe — 

The  iron-armed  soldier,  the  true-hearted  soldier, 

The  gallant  old  soldier  of  Tippecanoe.” 

Never  were  mass  conventions  so  numerous  and  immense 
as  those  held  by  the  Whigs  during  this  campaign.  Tens  of 
thousands  flocked  to  them  from  the  plow,  the  forge,  the  fac- 
tory, the  counter  and  desk,  to  give  hearty  utterance  to  their 
detestation  of  the  party  that  had  made  the  “American  sys- 
tem ” of  protection  inoperative,  threw  all  our  trade  into  the 
hands  of  Great  Britain,  left  our  country  bankrupt,  and 
brought  the  wages  of  our  laborers  to  starvation  figures. 
Delegations  often  rode  thirty  miles  to  these  meetings,  camp- 
ing on  the  way.  They  carried  huge  banners,  and  often  log 
cabins  mounted  on  wheels,  by  the  side  of  which  was  a 
barrel  of  hard  cider,  the  beverage  of  the  campaign.  They 
were  amply  paid  for  their  trouble  by  the  big  processions  in 
which  they  participated,  and  the  eloquence  they  heard  from 
such  men  as  Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  Wm.  C.  Preston, 
Henry  A.  Wise,  Tom  Corwin,  Thomas  Ewing,  R.  W. 


3&2 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


Thompson  and  others.  General  Harrison  himself  took  the 
stump  in  the  Western  States,  and  spoke  to  immense  audi- 
ences. “ The  Log  Cabin  ,”  an  illustrated  campaign  paper 
published  by  Horace  Greeley,  at  New  York  and  Albany,  ap- 
peared in  May,  1840,  and  reached  a circulation  of  80,000. 
It,  with  The  New  Yorker , became  the  foundation  of  the 
New  York  Tribune. 

The  speeches  of  the  Whigs  in  this  campaign  were  never 
excelled  for  wit  and  vigor.  Corwin’s  reply  to  Craig’s  attack 
on  General  Harrison’s  military  record  literaly  crushed 
Craig  in  political  and  professional  life.  Clay  was  equally 
happy  in  his  defence  of  the  candidate  and  the  principles  of 
the  party.  While  saying  that  “ General  Harrison  had  fought 
more  battles  than  any  other  general  during  the  last  war  and 
never  sustained  defeat,  and  that  he  had  held  more  civil 
offices  of  trust  and  importance  than  almost  any  man  in  the 
Union,”  he  was  interrupted  by  a voice  in  the  crowd  crying 
out,  “ Tell  us  of  Van  Buren’s  battles ! ” 

“ Ah ! ” said  Clay,  “ I will  have  to  tell  you  of  Van  Buren’s 
three  great  battles ! He  fought  General  Commerce  and  con- 
quered him ; he  fought  General  Currency  and  conquered 
him  ; and  with  his  Cuban  allies  he  fought  the  Seminoles  and 
got  conquered ! ” 

The  Whigs  fought  the  campaign  to  a close  with  the  ut- 
most harmony,  confidence  and  enthusiasm,  and  the  result 
was  twenty  States  and  234  electoral  votes  for  Harrison  and 
six  States  and  60  electoral  votes  for  Van  Buren.  It  was  an 
unparalleled  victory  and  a stinging  rebuke  to  a party  which 
# had  wrecked  the  country  with  its  British  principles  and  its 
determination  to  prostrate  the  paid  labor  of  the  North  at  the 
feet  of  the  unpaid  labor  of  the  South,  in  order  that  slavery 
might  live  and  thrive. 

Everywhere  the  triumphant  Whigs  sang: 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


363 


“ Then  hurrah  for  the  field  where  the  bold  eagle  flew, 

In  pride  o’er  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  ! ” 

And  then  would  come  the  refrain — 

“ Van,  Van,  Van,  is  a used-up  man.” 

General  Harrison  arrived  in  Washington  to  take  the  oath 
of  office  and  assume  the  duties  of  President  on  a stormy  af- 
ternoon in  February,  1841.  He  walked  from  the  station 
to  City  Hall,  amid  continual  greetings  from  the  multitude. 
He  was  a very  dignified  man,  with  quite  a military  bearing, 
but  severely  plain  in  his  habits.  He  rose  early  and  went  to 
market  himself,  rarely  wearing  an  overcoat.  His  death 
from  pneumonia,  contracted  by  exposure  to  a chilling  rain, 
on  one  of  those  morning  marketing  trips,  cut  his  adminis- 
tration short  at  the  end  of  one  month.  It  threw  the  nation 
into  a mourning  as  profound  as  its  jubilation  had  been  in- 
tense on  the  morning  of  his  inauguration. 

General  Harrison’s  son,  John  Scott  Harrison,  fell  heir  to 
his  father’s  farm  at  North  Bend,  on  the  Ohio  river,  a few 
miles  below  Cincinnati.  He  had  already  acquired  political 
prominence,  having  served  as  Governor  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory  and  subsequently  as  a member  of  Congress  in  the 
lower  House,  from  1853  to  1857.  He  died  in  1879,  at  Cin- 
cinnati. It  was  at  North  Bend  that  Benjamin  Harrison  was 
born  on  August  20,  1833.  He  was  a slender,  wiry  stripling 
of  seven  years  when  the  notable  campaign  in  which  his 
grandfather  was  elected  President  was  going  on.  Its  spec- 
tacular appeals  and  scenic  wonders  made  a vivid  impression 
on  the  boy’s  mind.  Apples  for  boys  seem  to  have  been  as 
much  of  an  inspiration  as  hard  cider  for  the  men,  and  the 
impression  was  popular  that  no  matter  where  they  were 
found  they  were  common  property  and  appropriate  emblems 
of  patriotic  fervor.  The  boy  carried  such  a delusion  with 


364 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


him  on  a trip  to  Cincinnati,  in  company  with  his  grand- 
father, shortly  after  the  election  of  the  latter.  Tired  out 
with  treading  the  streets,  and,  perhaps,  very  hungry,  he 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  presented  by  a stand  highly 
piled  with  red-cheeked  apples,  and  so  began  to  fill  his  pock- 
ets just  as  he  had  been  wont  to  do  under  the  favorite  trees 
in  his  father’s  orchard.  Of  course  there  was  no  resistance 
to  this  till  the  apple-woman  saw  him  walk  innocently  and 
unconcernedly  away,  when  her  shrieks  called  the  attention 
of  the  grandfather  to  the  comical  situation.  The  account 
was  readily  adjusted,  and  the  boy  went  on  his  way  munch- 
ing his  fruit  as  satisfactorily  as  if  its  possession  had  not  at 
first  involved  a question  of  law  and  morals. 

The  life  of  young  Benjamin  was  quite  like  that  of  other 
farm  boys  during  the  period  in  which  they  are  picking  up  the 
rudiments  at  home  or  in  the  district  school.  If  anything, 
there  was  a little  more  serious  attention  to  study  than  is 
usual,  leastways,  there  was  more  than  the  ordinary  progress, 
for  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  old  he  was  sent  to  Cary’s 
Academy,  on  Walnut  Hills,  a suburb  of  Cincinnati,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years,  and  where  one  of  his  classmates 
was  Murat  Halstead.  The  year  after  he  left  school  he  lost 
his  mother — a loss  that  affected  the  impressible  nature  of 
the  young  man  for  a long  time.  In  the  fall  of  1850  he  be- 
came a student  at  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio.  He 
entered  as  a member  of  the  Junior  class,  and  in  June,  1852, 
he  was  graduated  fourth  in  a class  of  sixteen.  At  the  Uni- 
versity with  Harrison  were  Professor  David  Swing,  of 
Chicago ; the  Hon.  Milton  Saylor,  of  Cincinnati ; the  Rev. 
Dr.  James  Brooks,  of  St.  Louis ; the  late  Senator  Oliver  P. 
Morton,  of  Indiana ; and  the  Hon.  W.  P.  Fishback ; but  not  * 
all  of  them  were  classmates.  Here  he  made  such  headway 
with  his  studies  as  to  be  able  to  graduate  at  the  age  of  eigh- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


365 


teen.  His  teachers  and  classmates  all  bore  testimony  to 
his  popularity  among  his  fellows,  to  the  ease  with  which  he 
held  his  own  in  all  the  college  contests,  and  to  the  promise 
he  gave  of  future  success.  The  learned  and  eminent  Pro- 
fessor David  Swing  writes  “ that  Harrison,  while  at  Oxford, 
though  very  young,  was  a studious  scholar  and  early  gave 
evidence  of  being  the  foremost  in  whatever  he  might  under- 
take. He  there  acquired  the  habit  of  study  and  mental 
discipline  which  have  characterized  him  through  life,  ena- 
bling him  to  grapple  with  any  subject  on  short  notice,  to 
concentrate  his  intellectual  forces  and  give  his  mental  ener- 
gies that  sort  of  direct  and  effective  operation  that  indicates 
the  trained  and  disciplined  mind.” 


II. 


LEGAL  CAREER. 

The  robust  intellect  he  had  inherited  was  now  well  disci- 
plined and  equipped  for  the  profession  of  his  choice.  He 
inclined  naturally  to  law,  as  best  suiting  hereditary  taste 
and  mental  organization.  Certainly  no  man  ever  possessed 
a more  distinctively  legal  mind. 

He  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge  B.  S.  Storer,  in  Cin- 
cinnati, shortly  after  he  graduated,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  old.  At  or  about  the 
completion  of  his  law  studies,  he  married  the  handsome 
daughter  of  Professor  John  W.  Scott,  long  time  professor  at 
Washington  College,  Pennsylvania,  and  previously  at  Miami 
University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  at  College  Hill,  Cincinnati, 
at  which  last-named  place  his  daughter  first  met  General 
Harrison  when  he  was  a student  there.  Mrs.  Harrison’s 
mother  was  the  beautiful  Mary  Neal,  daughter  of  John 
Neal  of  English  birth,  cashier  of  the  Kensington  Bank  and 
afterward  of  the  Bank  of  Moyamensing.  The  young  lawyer 
thus  embarked  on  his  profession  with  a partner  whose  pres- 
ence would  prove  an  inspiration,  even  if  the  question  of 
bread  and  butter  should  thereby  become  a little  harder  to 
solve.  But  he  had  no  mind  to  stop  in  Cincinnati.  He 
would  carry  farther  west  the  name  that  had  honored  Vir- 
ginia and  Ohio,  and  contribute  his  energies  to  a new  society. 
With  $200  in  his  possession,  a gift:  from  his  father,  and  a 
small  inheritance  of  $800  from  an  aunt,  he  started  for  In- 
dianapolis, and  there,  in  the  year  1855,  began  his  industrious 
and  highly  honorable  career  as  a lawyer. 

(366) 


Hon.  William  B.  Allison. 


Born  at  Perry,  Ohio,  March  2,  1829 ; educated  at  Western  Reserve 
College ; admitted  to  bar  in  Ohio ; moved  to  Iowa,  1857 ; served  on 
Governor’s  staff  during  war;  elected  as  Republican  to  38th,  39th,  40th 
and  41st  Congresses  ; elected  to  United  States  Senate,  1872;  re-elected, 
1878,  1884  and  1890 ; one  of  the  oldest,  ablest  and  most  respected 
Senators ; Chairman  of  Committee  on  Appropriations  ; Member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Engrossed  Bills,  Finance  and  Canadian  Relations. 

(367) 


THE  UGBAEF 

tttSEiilT  OiiSOtS 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


369 


At  that  time  he  was  a solid-looking,  square-shouldered 
young  man,  with  an  uncommonly  large,  well-poised  head,  a 
serious,  thoughtful  face,  and  a quiet,  dignified  manner  that 
indicated  great  reserve  force.  He  was  poor,  among  stran- 
gers, without  influence,  but  heroic  at  heart  and  anxious  for 
the  opportunity  which  he  felt  must  come,  if  honor,  talent 
and  zeal  were  to  deserve  their  rewards.  It  was  not  long  in 
coming.  One  of  his  first  cases  of  moment  was  with  Hon. 
John  A.  Wright,  then  Democratic  Governor  of  the  State. 
It  concerned  a legislative  investigation  and  was  as  much  po- 
litical as  legal.  He  displayed  marked  ability  in  handling 
this  case,  and  proved  that  youth  was  no  drawback  to  suc- 
cess where  the  heart  was  right,  the  head  clear  and  the  will 
determined.  Business  tumbled  right  in  on  him  from  that 
date,  and  he  ever  afterwards  continued  to  be  a growing 
lawyer,  with  a large  and  commanding  clientage. 

Among  the  many  incidents  showing  his  application  and 
energy  is  the  following : — Many  years  before  he  had  at- 
tained prominence  in  his  profession,  he  was  appointed  to 
prosecute  a negro  charged  with  attempting  wholesale  mur- 
der by  putting  poison  into  the  coffee  at  a hotel.  He  had 
only  one  night  in  which  to  prepare  for  the  trial.  He  had 
no  experience  in  poison  cases  and  no  knowledge  of  poisons. 
He  called  to  his  aid  Dr.  T.  Parvin  (who  has  since  become 
as  distinguished  in  his  profession  as  General  Harrison  has 
in  his),  and  the  two  young  men  spent  the  whole  night  in 
diligent  work  on  the  poison  case.  The  next  day,  to  the  as- 
tonishment and  bewilderment  of  the  defence,  young  Harri- 
son appeared  ready  for  the  trial.  He  conducted  the  prose- 
cution vigorously  and  succeeded  in  having  the  prisoner  con- 
victed. 

Speaking  of  Mr.  Harrison’s  early  law  career,  William 
Wallace,  his  first  law  partner,  says  : — “ I formed  his  acquaint- 


370 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


ance  soon  after  he  came  to  the  city.  He  was  about  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  a white-haired,  boyish-looking  young 
man,  but  pleasant  in  manner,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  find 
out  his  superior  intellectual  qualities  and  his  sterling  worth. 
It  happened  that  in  the  year  1855  I had  received  the  nomi- 
nation for  Clerk  of  Marion  County  on  the  People’s  ticket. 
The  canvass  required  a good  deal  of  time,  and  I concluded 
to  offer  my  young  friend  a partnership.  I met  him  on  the 
street  one  day  and  told  him  I had  some  good  clients  and 
a fair  practice,  and  that  if  he  would  go  into  the  office  and 
take  care  of  the  business  while  I was  canvassing  for  the 
office,  we  would  share  the  profits.  I think  this  is  the  only 
partnership  agreement  we  ever  had.  I was  defeated  for  the 
office,  so  we  continued  the  practice  of  the  law  together  until 
the  year  i860  or  1861.  It  is  pleasant  to  say  that  through 
his  assistance  and  ability  as  a lawyer  we  retained  our  clients 
and  got  new  ones.  Our  business  was  of  a quiet  kind,  some 
collections,  a good  deal  of  probate  business,  and  once  in  a 
while  a case  that  tested  the  mettle  of  the  young  partner. 

“ He  soon  disclosed  his  admirable  qualities  as  a lawyer, 
quick  of  apprehension,  clear,  methodical  and  logical  in  his 
analysis  and  statement  of  a case.  He  possessed  a natural 
faculty  for  getting  the  exact  truth  out  of  a witness,  either 
by  a direct  or  cross  examination.  In  this  respect  he  has 
few  equals  anywhere  in  the  profession.  Always  exacting 
from  courts  and  juries  their  closest  attention  and  interest  in 
the  cause,  and  when  the  cause  demanded  it  illustrating  the 
rarest  powers  of  the  genuine  orator,  he  was  a hard  worker, 
giving  to  every  case  the  best  of  his  skill  and  labor,  so  that 
he  never  went  unprepared,  trusting  to  good  luck  or  the  want 
of  skill  or  the  negligence  of  the  other  side.  He  was  poor. 
It  was  a struggle  for  bread  and  meat  with  both  of  us.  He 
had  a noble  young  wife,  who  cheerfully  shared  with  him 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


371 


the  plainest  and  simplest  style  of  living.  He  did  the  work 
about  his  home  for  a long  time  himself,  and  thus  made  his 
professional  income,  not  large,  keep  him  independent  and 
free  from  debt.” 

Hon.  W.  P.  Fishback,  also  a former  partner,  says  : “ Gen- 
' eral  Harrison  possesses  all  the  qualities  of  a great  lawyer 
in  rare  combination.  He  prepares  a case  with  consummate 
skill ; his  written  pleadings  are  models  of  clearness  and 
brevity ; he  is  peerless  in  Indiana  as  an  examiner  of  wit- 
nesses, he  discusses  a legal  question  in  a written  brief  or  in 
oral  argument  with  convincing  logic,  and  as  an  advocate  it 
may  be  said  of  him  that  when  he  has  finished  an  address  to 
the  jury  nothing  remains  to  be  said  on  that  side  of  the  case. 
I have  often  heard  able  lawyers  in  Indiana  and  elsewhere 
say  that  he  was  the  hardest  man  to  follow  they  ever  met. 
No  lawyer  who  ever  met  General  Harrison  in  a legel 
encounter  has  afterwards  placed  a small  estimate  upon  his 
ability.” 

The  present  (1888)  law  firm  is  Harrison,  Miller  & Elam. 
The  firm  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest  and  best  in  the 
State  in  so  far  as  safe  counsel  and  genuine  legal  ability  are 
concerned.  Speaking  of  his  partner,  General  Harrison,  Mr. 
Miller  says  : — “ Perhaps  the  greatest  law  argument  made  by 
the  General  was  in  the  Lieutenant-Governor’s  case  in  the 
winter  of  1885,  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Indiana.  The 
case  was  one  involving  the  greatest  questions  of  constitu- 
tional law  and  the  relative  functions  of  the  legislative,  ex- 
ecutive and  judicial  departments  of  the  Government.  The 
case  had  already  in  various  phases  been  argued  two  or  three 
times  by  other  counsel,  and  the  most  elaborate  briefs  had 
been  prepared  and  published  on  both  sides.  The  evening 
before  the  final  argument  was  to  be  begun  the  briefs  were 
put  in  General  Harrison’s  hands.  With  such  preparation 


372 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


as  he  could  make  that  night  and  during  the  argument  by 
other  counsel,  including  Senator  Turpie  and  others  of  the 
ablest  in  the  State,  he  made  an  exposition  of  the  relations 
of  the  different  departments  of  the  Government  to  each  other 
so  luminous  and  profound  that,  though  the  case  was  one 
enlisting  on  each  side  the  most  intense  partisan  feeling  and 
though  four  of  the  five  judges  were  opposed  to  him  politi- 
cally, yet  a majority  of  the  court  adopted  his  views  and 
decided  in  his  favor.  In  the  brilliancy  of  his  argument 
all  others,  learned  and  forcible  as  they  were,  paled  into 
insignificance.” 

For  a full  score  of  years  before  his  nomination  General 
Harrison  held  the  first  place  at  the  Indiana  bar.  He  had 
equals,  and  even  superiors,  as  specialists,  but  in  “ all-round  ” 
management  and  generalship  of  a case,  and  ability  to  “ get 
there,”  it  was  universally  conceded  that  he  was  unsurpassed 
in  the  State.  In  a recent  conversation  respecting  his  merits, 
one  of  the  best  lawyers  of  Indianapolis  remarked,  “ that  he 
had  never  known  but  one  instance  in  which  General  Harri- 
son was  surpassed  as  a cross-examiner,  and  that  was  in  ex- 
Judge  Fullerton’s  work  during  the  Beecher-Tilton  trial.  In 
a case  at  law  he  brings  a moral  force  to  bear  upon  any 
crooked  work  or  concealment  that  is  as  powerful  as  any 
skill  in  handling  it.  His  scorn  and  sarcasm  has  an  ‘ ugly 
honesty’  in  its  expression  that  will  skin  or  scalp  the  victim 
according  to  his  degree  of  culpability.  In  speaking,  his 
voice  is  high,  shrill  and  somewhat  unpleasant  at  first,  but 
this  is  soon  lost  sight  of  in  the  midst  of  his  clear  enunciation 
and  perfect  mastery  of  his  theme.  His  manner  is  very 
earnest,  and  his  arguments,  always  well  marshalled,  have  a 
rapid  and  ponderous  sweep,  like  a charge  of  cavalry.  His 
grit  and  pluck  are  of  the  subdued  order,  but  capable  of  being 
greatly  aroused,  and  then  he  is  apt  to  deliver  his  blows  with- 


Hon.  William  P.  Frye. 

Born  at  Lewiston,  Me.,  September  2,1831;  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College,  1850;  educated  for  the  bar;  elected  to  State  Legislature,  1861, 
1862,  1867  ; Mayor  of  Lewiston,  1866—67  ; Attorney-General,  1867-68- 
69;  member  of  Republican  National  Executive  Committee,  1872-76- 
80;  Presidential  Elector,  1864;  Delegate  to  Republican  National  Con- 
ventions, 1872-76-80;  elected  member  of  42d,  43d,  44th,  45th,  46th 
and  47th  Congresses;  elected  to  succeed  James  G.  Blaine  in  United 
States  Senate  in  1880;  re-elected  Senator  in  1883  and  1888;  chairman 
of  Committee  on  Commerce  and  on  Pacific  Railroads,  and  member  of 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations;  of  wide  repute  as  orator  and 
statesman. 


(374) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


375 


out  respect  to  persons.  The  old  stagers  like  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks  and  D.  W.  Voorhees  never  met  a man  who  was 
so  resolute  and  overwhelming  in  his  excoriations  of  them  as 
General  Harrison.” 

This  manner  and  method  describes  his  political  as  well  as 
his  legal  work,  except  that  in  his  political  speeches  there  is 
more  compactness,  smoothness  and  logical  development 
which,  joined  to  greater  fervor,  make  them  scholarly  and 
eloquent.  They  are  plain  and  lucid  in  general  style,  but 
charmingly  interspersed  with  phrases  of  rare  beauty,  and 
lighted  up  at  effective  points  by  expressions  of  fine  humor. 
On  one  occasion  he  was  delivering  a Republican  speech  in 
Boston,  in  which  he  said  “ that  Ben  Butler  had  been  out 
West  quoting  Latin  and  awing  the  people  with  his  scholar- 
ship. He  (Butler)  had  said  that  the  creation  of  money 
followed  the  natural  order  of  creation,  which  began  with  fiat 
lux.  Very  good  ! very  good  indeed  ! But  when  God  Al- 
mighty said  ‘ fiat  lux  * there  was  the  power  of  God  Almighty 
behind  it,  and  I cannot  help  thinking  what  Ben  Butler  would 
look  like  sitting  on  the  rim  of  morning  and  shouting  at 
chaos  : ‘ Fiat  lux.’  ” 

The  young  Indiana  lawyer  could  not,  of  course,  forego 
the  pleasurable  excitement  of  politics.  It  was  the  formative 
period  of  the  Republican  party,  and  he  found  in  its  principles 
something  which  appealed  equally  to  his  heart  and  head. 
His  instinct  and  education  inclined  him  to  a cause  which 
sought  to  break  away  from  subserviency  to  slavocracy,  and 
re-dedicate  our  institutions  on  a broad,  humanitarian  basis. 
He  possessed  fine  oratorical  powers,  and  soon  came  into 
demand  as  a fearless  and  impressive  public  speaker — one  of 
the  best  in  the  West.  The  vigorous  and  growthy  Republic- 
anism of  his  section  owed  much  to  his  campaign  efforts.  In 
the  memorable  canvass  of  i860,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  run- 

17 


376 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


ning  for  President,  he  happened  to  have  an  appointment  to 
speak  in  a town  on  the  same  day  that  Mr.  Hendricks  was  to 
address  his  Democratic  admirers.  An  arrangement  was 
effected  by  which  they  were  to  divide  the  time  between  them. 
Mr.  Hendricks,  with  all  the  confidence  of  a veteran  cam- 
paignist,  and  with  no  little  of  the  feeling  with  which  “ old 
stagers  ” sometimes  regard  stripling  adversaries,  fully  ex- 
pected to  amuse  himself  and  his  audience  by  tearing  the 
unwitting  young  man  into  metaphorical  pieces  and  swallow- 
ing them  whole.  The  result  of  the  meeting  was  quite  dif- 
ferent from  what  Mr.  Hendricks  had  so  confidently  expected. 
Instead  of  killing  and  dissecting  his  man  he  had  to  struggle 
for  his  own  precious  life.  Democrats  freely  admitted  that 
Mr.  Hendricks  had  met  his  match,  and  Republicans  were 
unanimous  in  the  verdict  that  he  had  been  badly  worsted  ir, 
argument  and  eloquence.  The  chairman  of  the  meeting 
said,  “ I have  heard  a good  many  political  debates  in  my 
day,  but  I never  heard  a man  skin  an  opponent  as  quickly 
as  Ben  Harrison  did  Hendricks  that  day.”  A more  ex- 
tended contest  was  afterward  arranged  by  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Hendricks,  in  which  he  seemed  willing  to  give  his  young 
adversary  some  points  of  vantage,  but  he  repented  of  this 
before  the  controversy  was  through,  and  it  is  said  had  to 
call  the  “ Tall  Sycamore  of  the  Wabash,”  Mr.  Voorhees,  to 
his  assistance.  He  gave  it  out  that  the  controversy  had 
taught  him  one  lesson,  and  that  was,  never  to  make  a con- 
cession of  any  kind  to  an  opponent. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  this  celebrated  campaign 
Harrison  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  and  was  one  of  the 
most  effective  and  popular  champions  of  the  Republican 
cause.  He  was  running  for  office  himself,  having  accepted 
the  nomination  of  his  party  for  the  modest  position  of  Re- 
porter for  the  Supreme  Court,  This  place  was  in  the  line 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


377 


of  his  profession  and  tastes,  and  would  prove  useful  to  him 
in  elevating  him  in  his  profession  as  well  as  increasing  his 
income.  He  was  duly  elected  to  the  position  for  the  term 
of  four  years,  and  at  once  turned  his  attention  to  its  duties. 
His  fellow-members  of  the  bar  felt  that  he  fully  deserved  the 
place  he  had  won  by  such  hard  work,  and  that  he  was  fully 
equipped  for  its  responsibilities. 

It  was  in  the  year  i860  that  he  entered  into  a legal  part- 
nership with  Mr.  Fishback.  In  the  capacity  of  Court  Re- 
porter he  published’  two  volumes  and  had  a third  under  way 
when  the  events  of  the  civil  war  began  to  crowd  thick  and  fast 
into  history  and  to  turn  the  best  settled  projects  of  men  into 
unthought  of  channels. 


III. 


MILITARY  CAREER. 

Mr.  Seward’s  idea  that  the  war  of  the  rebellion  could  be 
crushed  by  hastily  gathered  militia  in  a campaign  of  ninety 
days  had  been  dispelled  by  the  misfortunes  of  1861.  Thor- 
oughly disillusioned  as  to  the  situation,  President  Lincoln 
issued  his  calls  for  more  men,  and  in  1862  his  call  for  300, OCX), 
the  term  of  enlistment  to  be  for  three  years.  The  period 
was  one  of  great  depression,  for  there  had  been  repeated 
defeats  of  Union  troops,  and  the  enemy  had  hold  of  vital 
strategic  points,  and  swarmed  all  along  the  borders  of  the 
slave  States.  Benjamin  Harrison  had  been  one  of  those 
who  cheerfully  responded  to  the  first  call  for  ninety-day 
troops.  This  had  not  been  regarded  as  much  of  a sacrifice, 
since  the  absence  from  the  duties  of  his  newly  acquired  office, 
and  from  his  wife  and  family,  would  only  be  temporary. 

But  the  period  of  his  return  was  one  of  greater  gloom 
than  ever.  There  was  earnest  war  ahead,  prolonged  absence, 
hardship  and  death.  Lincoln’s  calls,  each  growing  more 
urgent  and  portentous,  were  ringing  in  the  ears  of  all  patriots. 
Sacrifices  must  be  made.  Life’s  prospects,  the  comforts  and 
endearments  of  home,  wife,  children,  loved  ones,  must  not 
stand  in  the  way  of  patriotic  devotion  and  high  call  to  duty. 
Looking  back,  young  Harrison  saw  his  fair  start  in  life,  his 
office  which  was  to  net  a living  and  lift  the  mortgage  from 
his  little  cottage,  his  young  wife  and  two  children.  Looking 
forward,  all  these  desirable  and  beloved  things  took  other 
shapes,  or  vanished,  and  there  arose  a conflict  in  his  bosom. 
How  it  was  decided  we  let  him  tell  in  his  own  words : — “ I 
(378) 


Hon.  Russell  A.  Alger. 

Born  in  Medina  co.,  Ohio,  February  27,  1836 ; educated  at  Richfield 
Academy;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar,  1859;  enlisted,  August, 
1861,  as  Captain  in  2d  Michigan  Cavalry;  wounded  and  a prisoner, 
1862;  Colonel  of  the  6th  Michigan  Cavalry,  1863;  brevetted  Brigadier, 
1864 ; after  war,  moved  to  Detroit ; engaged  in  lumber  business ; be- 
came head  of  two  extensive  lumber  companies;  owner  of  large  pine 
lands ; delegate  to  Chicago  Convention  in  1884 ; elected  Governor  of 
Michigan,  as  a Republican,  1884;  conspicuous  candidate  for  President 
in  National  Republican  Convention  of  1888;  received  142  votes  on  5th 
ballot ; name  prominently  coupled  with  the  nomination  in  1892 ; a ready, 
perspicuous  orator,  and  popular  party  leader  in  the  Northwest. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


381 


went  one  day  to  see  Governor  Morton  with  Mr.  Wallace,  to 
seek  an  appointment  as  lieutenant  for  a young  man  in  the 
north  part  of  the  State.  After  getting  through  with  this 
business  Governor  Morton  invited  me  into  an  inner  room. 
He  there  spoke  of  the  call  and  of  no  response  being  made 
thereto.  The  Governor  seemed  quite  discouraged  at  the 
apathy  of  the  people,  and,  pointing  over  towards  the  Gallup 
Block,  where  men  were  dressing  stone,  remarked  that  men 
were  interested  in  their  own  business  more  than  in  the  safety 
of  the  nation.  I said  right  there  : ‘ Governor,  if  I can  be  of 
service  to  my  country  I am  ready  to  go.’  He  said  : * You 
can,  you  can  raise  a regiment  in  this  district.’  He  went  on 
to  say : ‘You  have  a good  office,  and  it  would  be  too  much 
to  ask  you  to  give  it  up ; but  you  get  up  the  regiment  and 
we  can  find  some  one  else  to  take  it  into  the  field.’  I said : 
* No,  if  I make  a recruiting  speech  and  ask  any  man  to 
enlist,  I propose  to  go  with  him  and  stay  as  long  as  he  does 
if  I live  so  long.’  ' ‘ Well,’  said  the  Governor,  ‘ you  can  com- 
mand the  regiment.’  I said:  ‘I  don’t  know  that  I shall 
want  to.  I have  no  military  experience ; we  can  see  about 
that.’  ” After  this  conversation  Mr.  Harrison  proceeded  up 
the  street  with  Mr.  Wallace  and  bought  a military  cap ; 
they  got  out  hand-bills  for  a war  meeting  at  Masonic  Hall, 
hired  a drum  and  fife  and  hung  a flag  out  of  his  office  window. 
Mr.  Harrison  took  out  a second  lieutenant’s  recruiting  com- 
mission in  July,  1862,  and  raised  and  took  the  first  company 
(A)  of  the  Seventieth  Regiment  into  camp,  and  in  less  than 
thirty  days  from  the  date  of  the  first  recruiting  commission 
he  was  in  Kentucky  with  1,010  men,  having  first  been  pro- 
moted to  a captaincy  and  then  to  a colonelcy.  This  was 
the  first  regiment  in  the  field  under  that  call. 

The  70th  Indiana  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Bowling  Green, 
Ky.,  and  became  a defender  of  the  Southern  borders  of  its 


Benjamin  Harrison. 


382 

own  State  against  the  numerous  raiding  parties  under  com- 
mand of  Kirby  Smith,  and  other  guerilla  officers.  But  in 
addition  it  performed  garrison  duty  in  many  places  during 
the  surges  back  and  forth  through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
of  the  Cumberland  armies  under  Buell  and  Rosecrans,  and 
was  efficient  as  a guard  to  the  long  lines  of  communication 
which  every  forward  movement  rendered  necessary.  It  got 
fo  be  a regiment  of  fine  esprit  and  discipline,  under  the  care 
of  its  excellent  Colonel,  who  developed  the  qualities  of  a 
soldier  as  rapidly  as  many  of  those  whom  West  Point  had 
favored  with  her  special  training. 

Says  D.  W.  Ransdell,  who  served  in  the  regiment  and  lost 
an  arm  at  Resaca  : — “ As  soon  as  our  regiment,  the  70th 
Indiana,  was  recruited,  Colonel  Harrison  marched  us  to 
Bowling  Green.  We  were  three  months  there,  all  the  time 
impatient,  as  green  recruits  always  are,  for  active  service, 
and  all  the  time  kept  at  drill.  The  Colonel  was  a strict  dis- 
ciplinarian. He  had  us  up  at  daylight  and  drilled  us  until 
breakfast ; after  breakfast  he  drilled  us  to  dinner  ; after  dinner 
we  had  more  of  it,  to  say  nothing  of  guard  duty,  dress  parade, 
inspections  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  The  boys  growled  a good 
deal,  but  there  was  not  one  of  them  who  failed  to  appreciate 
afterward  what  a good  thing  for  the  regiment  all  the  drilling 
had  been.  The  discipline  more  than  once  saved  many  a life, 
if  it  did  not  save  the  whole  regiment  from  capture,  destruc- 
tion or  rout.” 

The  period  of  eighteen  months,  during  which  the  70th 
Indiana  had  been  a defender  of  the  long  army  lines  which 
stretched  from  the  Ohio  southward,  came  to  an  end  after  the 
battle  of  Chattanooga,  and  when  Sherman  began  prepara- 
tions for  that  celebrated  forward  movement  which  carried 
him  to  Atlanta  and  thence  to  the  sea.  Chattanooga  was  to 
be  the  base  of  the  new  operations  against  Atlanta.  There 


S^NJamin  hArrIsoR 


3§3 

was  a mighty  ingathering  of  forces  there,  and  they  were 
formed  into  three  co-operative  armies.  McPherson’s  army 
composed  Sherman’s  right.  It  congregated  and  lay  at  Gor- 
don’s Mill.  Thomas’  army  composed  his  centre.  It  had 
gathered  its  forces  at  Ringold.  Schofield’s  army  composed 
his  left,  and  lay  at  Red  Clay,  due  north  of  Dalton.  They 
had  all  debouched  from  the  valleys  running  back  to  the 
Tennessee,  and  in  May,  1864,  stood  within  easy  supporting 
distance  of  each  other,  at  the  apex  of  a triangle  twenty 
miles  from  Chattanooga,  and  before  which  lay  the  Confed- 
erate army  at  Dalton,  under  General  Johnston.  In  the 
formation  of  the  above  armies,  the  20th  Corps,  under  com- 
mand of  “fighting  ” Joe  Hooker,  fell  into  the  army  of  the 
centre,  under  General  Thomas,  and  Colonel  Harrison’s  70th 
Indiana  regiment  fell  into  the  1st  Brigade  and  3d  Division 
of  this  celebrated  corps.  It  was  in  Lookout  Valley  that 
Colonel  Harrison,  then  in  command  of  a brigade,  first 
attracted  the  attention  of  his  corps  commander,  for  the 
rigid  discipline  of  his  own  regiment  and  brigade  and  the 
confidence  he  inspired  in  his  men. 

Every  soldier  knew  that  desperate  battles  would  mark 
their  140  miles  of  progress  to  Atlanta,  for  the  country  was 
densely  wooded,  very  mountainous,  broken  by  ravines, 
crossed  by  numerous  and  rapid  streams  and  full  of  difficul- 
ties for  an  advancing  army.  There  was  but  one  railway  for 
supplies,  and  the  country  roads  were  well  nigh  impassable 
in  rainy  weather.  The  Confederate  position  at  Dalton  was 
covered  by  an  almost  inaccessible  ridge  known  as  Rocky 
Face.  Through  this  ridge  there  was  only  one  pass,  that  of 
Buzzard’s  Roost,  and  it  was  flooded  and  commanded  by 
batteries  crowning  the  cliffs. 

To  strike  in  front  was  impracticable  Sherman  determined 
to  move  by  Johnston’s  flank.  McPherson  was  sent  round 


384 


benjamin  Harrison. 


to  Resaca  to  attack  the  place  and  cut  the  railroads.  Scho- 
field was  to  press  down  from  the  left  and  attack  Johnston’s 
flank,  should  he  retreat.  Thomas  was  to  attack  the  strong 
position  of  Johnston  in  front,  and  hold  him  while  the  other 
movements  were  culminating.  Thomas’  demonstration  was 
a vigorous  one,  and  it  greatly  tried  the  mettle  of  his  men. 
For  two  whole  days  there  was  continual  skirmishing,  end- 
ing in  a brilliant  assault  by  Hooker’s  corps  on  the  Confed- 
erate entrenchments  at  Dug  Gap. 

Johnston  was  now  feeling  the  pressure  on  his  left  and 
rear,  and  fearing  for  the  safety  of  Resaca,  he  abandoned 
Dalton  and  fell  back  to  the  former  place.  Resaca  was 
strongly  fortified  by  nature  and  artificial  means.  Sherman 
resolved  to  repeat  the  tactics  which  had  secured  Dalton. 
Several  flanking  divisions  were  sent  to  the  left,  and  others 
to  cross  the  Oostanaula  and  destroy  communications.  But 
the  direct  move  on  Resaca  was  more  formidable  than  on 
Dalton.  On  May  15,  1864,  the  fighting  before  Resaca  was 
terrific.  Charge  after  charge  was  made  on  the  enemy’s  en- 
trenchments by  the  various  corps,  and  none  was  more  bril- 
liant and  destructive  than  that  of  the  20th  Corps.  One  of 
the  members  of  the  70th  Indiana  gives  his  recollection  of 
the  part  it  took  in  this  memorable  attack  : — “ It  must  have 
been  an  awful  ordeal,  for  the  70th  Indiana  lost  257  in  killed 
and  wounded,  or  almost  half  its  number.  I recollect  that 
our  regiment  had  been  at  the  right  of  the  centre  of  a line  of 
battle  more  or  less  actively  engaged  from  Friday  night  to 
Sunday  morning.  That  Sunday  morning  we  were  quietly 
marched  to  a ravine,  where  we  laid  off  our  coats  and  knap- 
sacks— of  course  we  knew  what  that  meant.  Then  we  were 
formed  in  one  single  line  at  the  top  of  a hill.  We  were  the 
first  line,  and  there  were  three  other  lines  behind  us.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  scene.  The  hill  sloped  gently  down- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


385 


ward  from  us^  to  a ravine.  Beyond  the  ravine  the  ground 
ascended  again,  and  on  the  crest  of  this  ascent  facing  us,  was 
the  rebel  position.  They  had  a battery  over  there,  and  it 
kept  belching  smoke  that  the  wind  would  whisk  away  from 
the  mouths  of  the  cannon,  and  the  next  minute  a shell  would 
come  shrieking  towards  us.  The  order  to  advance  was 
given.  We  moved  down  that  slope  like  clockwork.  Har- 
rison was  riding  his  horse  behind  our  line,  and  I remember 
looking  over  my  shoulder  at  him  and  wondering  whether  I 
should  ever  see  him  again.  Just  as  we  got  to  the  ravine  the 
order  came  to  charge.  We  dashed  through  the  ravine  and 
went  pell-mell  up  the  slope  beyond.  Well,  the  noise  and 
confusion  and  horror  of  it  all  was  fearful,  but  just  as  I was 
running  forward  with  all  my  might,  I heard  Harrison  yell- 
ing, ‘ Come  on,  boys  ! Come  on.’  There  he  was  on  his 
horse  away  in  front  of  the  line.  He  had  on  his  full 
regimentals  and  he  was  a shining  mai'k.  How  he  lived  for 
a minute  in  that  hailstorm  of  bullets  I don’t  know.  His 
voice  was  still  in  my  ears,  and  I was  almost  at  the  rebel 
works  when  I felt  a sharp  pain  in  my  wrist  as  if  it  had  been 
hit  smartly  with  a stick.  ‘ Look  out,  Dan  ! ’ a friend  of 
mine  cried,  ‘ you’ll  bleed  to  death.’  I stopped  the  bleeding 
by  pressure  and  went  back  to  the  hospital,  but  as  I turned 
to  walk  back  I saw  Harrison  right  among  the  guns  of  that 
battery.” 

Says  another  member  of  the  regiment : — “ In  the  charge 
at  Resaca  the  70th  Indiana  held  the  post  of  honor,  where 
the  bullets  were  the  thickest.  Our  Colonel  was  right  with 
us,  too.  He  came  right  up  behind  us  when  we  captured  the 
four  guns  there — the  only  guns,  I believe,  that  were  taken 
in  the  Atlanta  campaign.  We  had  to  withstand  a murder- 
ous cross-fire,  and  as  the  gunners  discharged  their  pieces 
we  fell  to  the  ground  and  allowed  the  shot  to  pass  over  us. 


386 


benjamin  Harrison. 


Then  we  rushed  up,  scaled  the  works  and  took  possession 
of  the  guns.  The  boys  tell  a story  of  the  General  which  I 
guess  is  true.  They  say  that  when  we  went  into  the  works 
Harrison  was  with  us,  and  that  he  grabbed  a rebel  gunner 
by  the  beard  and  yanked  him  out,  exclaiming  : * Come  out 
of  here,  you  blank  blank  rebel.’  ” 

Much  must  be  excused  to  the  excitement  attending  such 
an  occasion,  and  it  may  be  the  Colonel  did  really  forget  for 
the  moment  the  injunction  against  swearing,  but  if  so  his 
entire  life  in  time  of  peace  has  made  ample  amends,  for  his 
professional  brethren  say,  that  amid  all  the  vexations  of 
court  procedure  they  never  heard  him  utter  a harsher  ex- 
pletive than  “ confound  it.” 

In  this  historic  attack  on  Resaca,  Thomas’  army  held  the 
centre,  and  Hooker’s  corps  crossed  Camp  Valley  Creek, 
precipitating  the  engagement  all  along  Johnston’s  line,  and 
keeping  it  up  the  entire  day.  The  fortunes  of  the  bloody 
day  were  varied,  but  at  night  Johnston  confessed  his  ina- 
bility to  hold  the  place  longer  by  beating  a hasty  retreat 
over  the  Oostanaula  and  on  to  Cassville.  One  of  the  most 
magnificent  charges  and  fiercest  fights  of  the  day  was  after 
Johnston  had  passed  out  word  to  his  division  to  prepare  for 
retreat.  Hooker  had  captured  from  Stewart  one  of  the  best 
fortified  of  the  Confederate  positions.  The  latter  officer 
had  not  received  the  word  to  retreat  and,  bent  on  recapturing 
Hooker’s  position,  made  a desperate  attack  on  it.  He  was 
badly  repulsed,  and  Hooker  made  a gallant  pursuit  of  his 
advantage  by  charging  upon  the  Confederates,  carrying 
away  as  trophies  four  guns  and  several  hundred  prisoners. 
In  this  battle  in  and  around  Resaca  the  Union  loss  footed  up 
nearly  5,000  killed  and  wounded.  That  of  the  Confeder- 
ates was  less,  owing  to  their  protected  position.  Thus 
ended  the  second  stage  of  the  memorable  campaign. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


3S7 


Sherman  pushed  on  to  Cassville,  which  Johnston  speedily- 
evacuated,  to  take  up  a position  at  the  famous  and  impreg- 
nable Allatoona  Pass.  The  Union  army  could  not  afford 
to  waste  time  here,  and  so  swung  in  an  entire  body  away 
from  its  communications  and  by  Johnston’s  flank,  its  objec- 
tive being  Dallas.  Johnston  saw  the  manoeuvre  and  beating 
a hasty  retreat,  fell  back  to  New  Hope  Church,  where  he 
could  not  only  intercept  Sherman,  but  guard  his  own  line 
of  railroad.  Here  he  formed  in  line  of  battle,  and  on  May 
25,  Hooker,  in  Thomas’  advance,  skirmished  all  the  after- 
noon, and  an  hour  before  sunset,  having  his  corps  well  in 
hand,  he  began  a furious  assault  on  Hood’s  corps,  stationed 
at  the  Church.  He  held  to  this  attack  for  two  hours, 
nothing  making  him  desist  but  night  and  the  storm.  For 
three  days  there  was  continuous  fighting  at  New  Hope, 
which  resulted  in  the  daring  charges  and  counter  charges 
of  the  27th  and  28th.  Then  came  a week  of  skirmishing 
and  manoeuvring  again,  during  which  both  armies  gradu- 
ally worked  their  way  eastward  until  Sherman  found  him- 
self at  Ackworth  and  Johnston  at  Marietta,  the  latter 
guarded  by  the  famous  Kenesaw  range  on  the  right,  Lost 
Mountain  in  the  centre  and  Pine  Mountain  on  the  left,  all 
strongly  fortified  and  naturally  impregnable. 

History  can  never  relate  in  truthful  detail  the  daring  and 
bloody  efforts  of  the  Union  army  to  scale  these  mountain 
heights  and  dislodge  their  occupants.  McPherson  held  the 
left,  Thomas  the  centre,  and  Schofield  the  right  of  Sherman’s 
army.  It  had  been  reinforced  and  the  troops  were  full  of 
confidence.  It  moved  down  from  Ackworth  on  the  9th  of 
June ; on  the  10th  fighting  began.  For  twenty-four  days  bat- 
tle raged  incessantly — by  skirmish,  by  charge,  by  artillery,  by 
infantry.  Advance  was  as  if  by  inches,  through  dense  thick- 
ets and  across  almost  impassable  ravines.  Every  day  added 


388 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


to  the  long  list  of  Union  killed  and  wounded,  and  many 
gallant  officers  perished.  By  the  15th  Pine  Mountain  was 
forced  from  Johnston’s  grasp  and  a few  days  later  Lost 
Mountain.  Kenesaw  alone  remained.  Sherman  resolved  to 
carry  it  by  assault.  Thomas  and  McPherson’s  armies  were 
assigned  to  the  perilous  task.  These  generals  threw  their 
corps  and  regiments  into  the  wooded  base  of  the  heights 
and  began  the  perilous  ascent.  Regiments  vied  with  each 
other  in  climbing  unto  victory  or  death  amid  rock,  ravine, 
bramble  and  bullet.  They  could  not  slay,  yet  they  would 
not  quail.  For  an  entire  day  the  assault  was  kept  up,  and 
only  after  a loss  of  three  thousand  men  did  Sherman  decide 
that  the  Kenesaw  heights  were  impregnable.  Thomas’ 
army  held  the  front  with  brilliant  skirmishes  for  three  days 
longer  while  McPherson  swung  to  the  right  and  marched 
towards  the  Chattahoochie.  This  forced  Johnston  out  of  the 
Kenesaw  fastnesses,  and,  giving  up  Marietta,  he  retreated 
to  the  line  of  the  Chattahoochie,  hard  pressed  by  Thomas, 
who  continually  broke  his  rear  guard  and  rendered  every 
stopping  point  north  of  the  river  untenable. 

Sherman’s  armies  were  across  the  Chattahoochie  almost 
as  quickly  as  Johnston’s,  and  Atlanta  was  but  a few  miles 
away.  Johnston  had  girdled  Atlanta  with  fortifications,  but 
resolved  to  defend  it  from  the  heights  of  Peach  Tree  Creek, 
which  runs  northward  from  Atlanta  and  empties  into  the 
Chattahoochie.  Sherman  marched  to  the  attack  with 
Thomas  on  the  right,  Schofield  in  the  centre  and  McPherson 
on  the  left.  Hood  had  superseded  Johnston  and  adopted 
the  general  plans  of  the  latter.  Seeing  an  interval  between 
the  forces  of  Thomas  and  Schofield,  he  massed  his  troops 
on  the  Buckhead  road  and  fell  mercilessly  (July  20)  on  the 
weak  spot.  Hooker’s  three  divisions,  together  with  the 
divisions  of  Newton  and  Johnson,  caught  the  full  force  of 


Born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  May  12,  1850;  graduated  at  Harvard,  1871 ; 
graduated  from  Harvard  Law  School,  1875 ; admitted  to  Suffolk  bar, 
1876,  but  preferred  literary  pursuits;  served  two  terms  in  State  Legisla- 
ture ; elected,  as  a Republican,  to  50th,  51st  and  52d  Congresses,  to 
represent  Sixth  Massachusetts  District;  distinguished  as  a writer  on 
economic,  financial  and  commercial  subjects,  though  none  the  less  as  an 
industrious  and  able  representative;  member  of  the  Committees  on 
Naval  Affairs  and  Election  of  President  and  Vice  President. 

(389) 


TO  iM<£t 

q?  ' r 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


391 


the  terrible  blow.  The  assault  was  so  impetuous  and  deter- 
mined that  the  Union  troops  were  rolled  back  for  a time. 
But  defeat  only  served  to  arouse  their  mettle.  They  rallied 
and  amid  one  of  the  fiercest  conflicts  of  the  war,  which  was 
sustained  for  nearly  five  hours,  they  won  a victory  which 
cost  the  Confederates  fully  5,000  men,  and  defeated  entirely 
Hood’s  design  of  saving  Atlanta  by  meaas  of  the  formid- 
able entrenchments  along  Peach  Tree  Creek.  It  was  in  this 
momentous  battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek  that  General  Har- 
rison, as  commander  of  his  brigade,  crowned  so  honorably 
the  record  he  had  made  at  Resaca.  His  brigade,  the  first 
of  Ward’s  Division,  20th  Corps,  was  handled  with  the  ut- 
most skill  and  bravery  throughout  this  entire  onset  of 
Hood,  and  it  was  in  recognition  of  this  fact  that  Hooker,  as 
he  rode  the  lines  on  the  day  after  the  fight,  sought  out  the 
young  commander,  and  in  his  own  brusque  way  exclaimed, 
as  he  shook  hands  and  congratulated  him  : — By  G — d,  Har- 
rison, I’ll  make  you  a brigadier-general  for  your  gallantry  in 
this  fight ! ” 

That  this  was  no  idle  promise  was  proved  by  the  following 
hearty  letter  of  communication,  written  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  a few  months  later.  The  letter  is  worthy  of  study  as 
showing  the  solid  military  qualities  which  had  attracted  the 
critical  eye  of  General  Hooker,  and  which  had  contributed 
so  much  to  the  success  of  his  corps  in  point  of  discipline  and 
in  prowess : — 

Headquarters  Northern  Department,  \ 
Cincinnati,  O.,  Oct.  31,  1864.  / 
Hon.  E.  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War : 

I desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Department  to  the 
claims  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  the  70th  Indiana 
Volunteers,  for  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General 
Volunteers. 


392 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


Colonel  Harrison  first  joined  me  in  command  of  a brigade 
of  Ward’s  division  in  Lookout  valley  preparatory  to  enter- 
ing upon  what  is  called  the  campaign  of  Atlanta.  My  attention 
was  first  attracted  to  this  young  officer  by  the  superior 
excellence  of  his  brigade  in  discipline  and  instruction,  the 
result  of  his  labor,  skill  and  devotion.  With  more  foresight 
than  I have  witnessed  in  any  officer  of  his  experience,  he 
seemed  to  act  upon  the  principle  that  success  depended  upon 
the  thorough  preparation  in  discipline  and  esprit  of  his  com- 
mand for  conflict  more  than  on  any  influence  that  could  be 
exerted  in  the  field  itself,  and  when  collision  came  his  com- 
mand vindicated  his  wisdom  as  much  as  his  valor.  In  all 
the  achievements  of  the  Twentieth  Corps  in  that  campaign 
Colonel  Harrison  bore  a conspicuous  part.  At  Resaca  and 
Peach  Tree  Creek  the  conduct  of  himself  and  command  was 
especially  distinguished.  Colonel  Harrison  is  an  officer  of 
superior  abilities  and  of  great  professional  and  persona] 
worth.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  commend  him  favorably 
to  the  honorable  Secretary  with  the  assurance  that  lis  pre- 
ferment will  be  a just  recognition  of  his  services  and  martial 
accomplishments. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Joseph  Hooker, 
Major-General  Commanding. 

Of  the  battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Captain  -Thomas  S. 
Sloan,  who  had  command  of  Knapp’s  Battery,  says : — 
“After  all  the  Union  batteries  had  been  silenced  excepting 
my  own,  the  crisis  was  reached,  and  our  only  support  was 
the  remnant  of  a regiment  of  which  Adjutant-General  T.  H. 
Elliot  had  command.  Just  then  a fine  soldierly  man  wear- 
ing a colonel’s  uniform  stepped  up  and  said, ' I see,  Captain, 
you  are  sorely  pressed.  I do  not  belong  to  your  corps  and 
have  no  orders,  but  if  you  will  let  me  I will  file  in  an  Indiana 
regiment  to  your  support.’  He  did  so,  and  the  Indianians 
held  their  position  and  checked  the  advance  of  the  enemy. 
We  poured  canister  into  the  Confederates  till  our  supply  was 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


393 


exhausted.  I subsequently  learned  that  the  officer  who  had 
addressed  me  was  Colonel  Ben  Harrison,  and  the  regiment 
was  the  70th  Indiana.  There  is  not  a survivor  of  Knapp’s 
Battery  that  does  not  hold  him  in  grateful  remembrance  for 
his  heroic  action  in  coming  to  our  assistance  at  a moment 
when  it  seemed  impossible  to  avert  disaster.  There  is  not 
the  possibility  of  a doubt  that  the  day  was  saved  by  Har- 
rison’s prompt  action,  and  it  was  this  that  attracted  Hooker’s 
attention,  resulting  in  deserved  promotion.” 

General  Harrison  had,  as  an  officer,  the  unbounded  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  his  men.  He  exacted  of  them  a rigid 
discipline,  but  they  learned  to  know  that  this  was  necessary 
in  order  to  save  the  organization  from  capture  and  rout,  and 
to  win  victories.  His  men  tell  many  anecdotes  of  him  on 
his  Atlanta  march,  all  of  which  tend  to  show  his  interest  in 
them.  His  big  horse  was  always  a conspicuous  object  and 
not  without  its  uses,  other  than  strictly  military.  Says  a 
member  of  the  70th  Regiment,  “ I recall  one  incident  that 
was  thoroughly  characteristic  of  Harrison.  It  was  during 
one  of  the  marches  toward  Atlanta.  I was  very  footsore 
and  weary,  and  was  limping  along  by  the  side  of  a very 
muddy  road.  The  chaplain  of  the  70th  was  walking  near 
me,  and  one  of  the  boys  who  was  done  up  was  riding  the 
chaplain’s  horse.  Just  then  General  Harrison  came  splash- 
ing along  through  the  mud.  He  saw  me  limping  and  asked 
me  by  name  what  the  matter  was.  When  he  saw  my 
blistered  feet  he  jumped  off  his  horse,  and  in  spite  of  my 
protests,  lifted  me  into  the  saddle.” 

“ That  was  nothing,”  replied  a one-armed  veteran  who 
heard  the  above,  “ General  Harrison  didn’t  ride  his  horse  a 
quarter  of  the  time  on  these  long  marches.  He  almost  always 
had  one  of  the  boys  astride  of  him.” 

When  Sherman  awoke  the  next  day  after  the  memorable 


394 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek,  he  found  Hood  had  evacuated 
all  the  entrenchments  in  his  front.  Thinking  he  had  gone 
to  Atlanta,  the  Union  armies  were  turned  to  face  the  city. 
But  Hood  had  really  swung  off  to  Decatur  and  when  Sher- 
man approached  Atlanta,  his  left  flank  caught  the  full  fury 
of  an  attack  from  Hood.  It  was  in  this  that  the  gallant 
McPherson  lost  his  life  and  it  was  here  that  Logan  played 
so  conspicuous  a part  in  saving  the  day.  The  armies  of 
Thomas  and  Schofield  were  under  fire  all  day  from  the  for- 
tifications of  Atlanta,  and  it  was  only  when  the  army  of  the 
latter  was  swung  round  to  Logan’s  assistance  that  Hood’s 
onset  was  broken.  The  Union  loss  was  3,722  and  the  Con- 
federate loss  8,000. 

Sherman’s  investing  army  was  now  subject  to  almost  daily 
attacks  from  Hood’s  forces,  in  the  midst  of  which  he  grad- 
ually worked  the  entire  Union  army  from  left  to  right  till  he 
had  drawn  Hood  all  the  way  to  Jonesboro’,  where  battle  was 
given.  The  long  Confederate  lines  were  punctured  every- 
where. This  meant  the  fall  of  Atlanta.  At  night  as  the 
Union  army  slept  in  their  trenches  and  along  the  line  of  the 
railroads  they  had  captured  they  were  aroused  by  the  sound 
of  heavy  explosions,  twenty  miles  away  to  the  north.  It 
was  the  exploding  store-houses,  trains  and  magazines  of 
Atlanta,  fired  by  the  rear-guard  of  Hood,  whose  van  was 
already  well  southward.  Atlanta  was  indeed  won,  and  the 
bugle  notes  of  victory  came  from  the  very  heart  of  Georgia 
to  cheer  the  people  of  the  north,  freshen  other  struggling 
armies,  and  inspire  the  Government.  It  was  September  1st, 
1864. 

General  Harrison  had  not  been  absent  from  his  command 
since  he  entered  the  army.  He  now  took  advantage  of  the 
cessation  of  active  hostilities  which  followed  the  capture  of 
Atlanta,  and  secured  a temporary  leave  of  absence  with 


Hon.  William  D.  Washburn. 

Born  in  Livermore,  Maine,  January  14,  1831 ; graduated  at  Bowdoin, 
j) 54;  studied  law  and  located  in  Minneapolis,  1857;  Surveyor-general 
of  Minnesota,  1861;  largely  interested  in  manufactures  and  railways; 
elected  to  State  Legislature,  1858-71  ; elected  to  46th,  47th  and  48th 
Congresses;  elected,  as  a Republican,  to  U.  S.  Senate  for  term  begin- 
ning March  4,  1889;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Mississippi  River  Im- 
provements; member  of  Committees  on  Civil  Service,  Commerce,  Educa- 
tion and  Labor,  Post-offices  and  Post  Roads,  etc.  ; earnest,  able  and  con- 
scientious statesman,  deeply  interested  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Northwest. 

395) 


KENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


397 


orders  to  report  to  Governor  Morton.  On  visiting  Indianap- 
olis he  found  that  the  very  patriotic  and  kindly  disposed  Dem- 
ocratic Supreme  Court  of  his  State  had  declared  the  office  of 
State  Reporter  vacant,  and  that  another  person  had  been 
elected  to  serve  out  the  regular  term.  It  wasn’t  much  won- 
der that  the  righteous  indignation  of  all  loyal  people  was 
aroused  at  this  outrage,  nor  that  they  firmly  resolved  to  re- 
instate the  old  incumbent.  He  was  given  a nomination  for 
the  place  on  the  Republican  ticket  and  during  his  thirty 
days  of  absence  from  the  army  he  made  a dashing  canvass 
of  the  State.  The  result  was  a triumph  for  him,  and  a rein- 
statement in  the  office  which  had  been  ruthlessly  torn  from 
him  while  fighting  the  battles  of  his  country. 

By  the  time  this  victory  of  peace  was  won,  and  the  enemy 
behind  rebuked  in  a signal  manner,  Hood  had  evolved  his 
plan  of  invading  Tennessee,  and  Sherman  his  plan  of  march- 
ing to  the  sea.  Thomas  was  given  supreme  command  of 
all  the  forces  deemed  necessary  to  checkmate  Hood,  and 
had  begun  the  work  of  retreat  to  and  concentration  at  Nash- 
ville. Thither  Hood  would  come,  and  there  would  be  that 
grand  ingathering  of  troops  whose  purpose  would  be  to 
crush  him.  This  was  the  situation  which  General  Harrison 
met  on  his  way  back  to  the  army.  He  would  still  be  with 
his  old  commander  and  in  the  capacity  of  Brigadier-general. 
More  than  that  he  would  still  be  with  those  whom  he  had 
learned  to  look  upon  as  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  for  Wood, 
who  had  earned  promotion  by  the  splendid  management  of 
his  division  throughout,  but  especially  in  that  last  desperate 
demonstration  at  Lovejoy,  was  in  command  of  a corps  at 
Nashville. 

During  October  and  November  Thomas  had  been  carry- 
ing on  the  work  of  concentration  at  Nashville  and  of  forti- 
fying the  place.  On  December  2,  1864,  Hood  appeared  and 
18 


398 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


began  the  work  of  investment.  Thomas  laid  his  plans  of 
battle,  which  placed  Smith’s  16th  Corps  on  his  right,  Wood’s 
4th  Corps  in  the  centre,  opposite  Montgomery  Hill,  and 
Schofield’s  23d  Corps  on  the  left  of  Wood  and  in  reserve, 
and  Steedman  on  the  extreme  left.  General  Harrison’s 
Brigade  was  therefore  in  the  centre  and  in  front  of  the 
enemy’s  strongest  point.  The  battle  opened  on  December 
15,  with  an  advance  of  Steedman  on  the  left.  While  he 
conducted  a bloody  charge  there,  Smith  charged  on  the 
right  and  at  the  same  time  Wilson’s  cavalry  swung  clear 
round  to  the  Confederate  rear.  Then  came  Wood’s  valiant 
4th  Corps,  which  moved  with  traditional  spirit  up  the  rough 
and  entrenched  acclivities  of  Montgomery  Hill,  driving  the 
enemy  to  their  interior  lines.  Schofield  also  pushed  steadily 
up,  and  when  all  the  lines  were  abreast  and  connected,  the 
whole  pressed  vigorously  forward  during  the  entire  after- 
noon, gradually  rising  over  almost  interminable  obstacles 
and  meeting  everywhere  with  deadly  fire,  till  the  last  lines 
of  the  enemy’s  entrenchments  were  captured.  Wood’s  4th 
alone  found  a line  beyond  the  second.  This  was  instantly 
carried  by  assault,  with  the  capture  of  eight  pieces  of  artil- 
lery and  500  prisoners.  The  enemy  now  broke  and  fled, 
his  natural  line  of  retreat  being  down  the  Franklin  pike, 
opposite  which  Wood  was.  He  forced  pursuit  with  as  much 
spirit  as  he  had  conducted  the  fighting.  Forming  his 
brigades  and  divisions  he  plunged  after  Hood’s  broken 
forces,  and  ceased  only  when  darkness  became  dense.  The 
next  morning  the  4th  Corps  found  Hood  at  bay  on  the 
Harpeth  Hills,  and  took  a position  across  the  Franklin  pike. 
When  the  other  corps  came  up  and  took  places  to  the  right 
and  left,  battle  was  again  joined.  Wood’s  corps  led  the 
assault,  up  over  severer  obstacles  than  those  of  the  day 
before,  and  with  greater  looses,  The  other  corps  rushed  on 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


399 


the  enemy’s  right  and  left,  while  their  attention  was  concen- 
trated on  the  terrific  struggle  along  the  centre,  and  literally 
folded  in  their  flanks,  capturing  dozens  of  guns  and  thou- 
sands of  prisoners.  In  a short  while  all  was  tumult  within 
the  enemy’s  lines,  and  then  their  forces  began  to  break  into 
disastrous  retreat  down  the  steep  slopes,  leaving  a wreckage 
of  wagons,  caissons,  muskets,  knapsacks  and  blankets  behind. 
They  reached  the  Franklin  pike  and  poured  down  it  a 
confused  mass.  Close  at  their  heels  hurried  the  relentless 
4th  Corps,  in  a chase  of  several  miles,  gathering  prisoners 
and  spoils  all  the  way  till  night  descended  in  mercy  on  the 
beaten  army.  The  day  saw  4,500  prisoners,  53  cannon  and 
thousands  of  small  arms  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

The  next  morning  dawned  cold  and  rainy,  but  by  daylight 
the  4th  Corps  was  on  the  march  with  Wilson’s  cavalry,  the 
remaining  corps  following.  Every  here  and  there  the  des- 
perate rear  guard  of  the  enemy  made  a stand  to  check  the 
hot  pursuit  and  gain  a little  time,  but  such  attempts  resulted 
only  in  the  loss  of  other  guns  and  further  discomfiture.  It 
was  thus  that  Wood’s  Corps  and  the  cavalry  followed  im- 
petuously to  Harpeth  River,  where  they  found  the  pontoons 
destroyed.  Others  were  improvised  and  Wood  was  again 
on  the  enemy’s  track,  but  he  could  not  catch  up  till  Hood 
was  safe  beyond  Duck  River,  having  again  burned  the  pon- 
toons. Wood  and  Wilson  hastily  improvised  others  and 
crossed  to  continue  the  pursuit.  On  the  24th  of  December 
they  twice  met  and  drove  the  enemy’s  rear  guard  and  pushed 
it  so  vigorously  as  to  save  the  bridges  across  Richland  creek. 
On  Christmas  morning  they  attacked  and  drove  their  foe  out 
of  Pulaski,  and  on  the  same  evening  General  Harrison’s 
Brigade  rushed  upon  them  at  a point  which  they  had  en- 
trenched for  the  night’s  bivouac  and  drove  them  pell-mell 
into  the  distance  and  darkness. 

Thus  was  Hood’s  flight  and  the  relentless  pursuit  kept 


4oo 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


up  till,  with  a mere  fraction  of  the  force  and  the  parapher- 
nalia he  brought  to  the  invasion  of  Tennessee,  he  recrossed 
the  Tennessee  a thoroughly  discomfited,  broken  down 
General. 

Whether  in  the  battles  around  Nashville,  or  in  the  dash- 
ing, persistent  pursuit  of  Hood  by  the  4th  Corps,  General 
Harrison’s  Brigade  was  one  of  the  most  valiant  and  reliable 
contributors  to  the  victories  which  left  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  free  from  Confederate  intruders  and  in  full  pos- 
session of  the  Union  armies.  There  was  really  nothing 
more  to  do  in  that  direction,  and  now  all  eyes  were  turned 
to  the  east  to  witness  the  culmination  of  rebellion. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  respite,  and  while  the  sturdy 
corps  of  the  west,  with  their  immense  equipments,  were 
being  transferred  to  the  Atlantic,  to  meet  the  coming  of 
Sherman  and  to  bring  the  inevitable  end  nearer  in  time,  that 
General  Harrison  was  called  to  the  bed-side  of  his  children 
who  were  lying  at  death’s  door  with  scarlet  fever.  General 
Harrison  was  himself  stricken  with  the  dread  disease  in 
malignant  form,  and  for  a time  his  life  was  despaired  of.  A 
vigorous  constitution  at  length  pulled  him  through,  and  he 
was  no  sooner  on  his  feet  than  he  started  east  and  joined 
his  command  in  the  Carolinas.  It  was  now  attached  to 
Sherman’s  army,  which  had  accomplished  its  march  to  the 
sea  and  was  already  well  on  its  way  to  its  goal  at  Raleigh. 
He  remained  with  Sherman  till  the  surrender  of  Johnston, 
and  then,  the  war  ended,  he  passed  north  with  his  victorious 
companions  in  arms,  participated  in  the  final  grand  review 
at  Washington,  and  thence  returned  to  his  family  and  his 
profession  bearing  the  well-deserved  honors  of  a Brigadier- 
general.  In  his  “ Twenty  Years  of  Congress,”  Mr.  Blaine 
says : — “ Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Indiana,  commanded  a 
brigade  before  he  was  30,  and  made  a military  record  which 
did  honor  to  the  illustrious  name  which  he  inherits.” 


i. 

I ,U1 


Born  at  Cummington,  Mass.,  October  30,  1816 ; graduated  at  Yale 
and  studied  law  ; engaged  in  law  practice  and  editing ; elected  to  State 
Legislature,  1848-49-52 ; elected  to  State  Senate,  1850 ; member  of 
Massachusetts  Constitutional  Convention,  1853;  District  Attorney  for 
Western  District  of  Massachusetts,  1853-67 ; elected,  as  Republican,  to 
35th,  36th,  37th,  38th,  39th,  40th,  41st,  42d  and  43d  Congresses; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate  to  succeed  Chas.  Sumner  and  took 
seat,  March  4,  1875 ; re-elected  in  1881  and  1887;  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  respected  Senators ; Chairman  of  Committee  on  Indian  Af- 
fairs and  member  of  Committees  on  Appropriations,  Civil  Service, 
Fisheries,  etc. 


Hon.  Henry  L.  Hawes. 


(402) 


IV. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE. 

On  his  return  to  the  paths  of  peace,  General  Harrison 
found  the  office  to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  the  fall  of 
1864  a valuable  aid  to  him,  and  he  performed  its  duties  till 
the  end  of  the  term  in  1868.  He  was  then  pressed  to  be- 
come a candidate  for  re-election,  but  declined  to  accept  be- 
cause it  was  necessary  for  him  to  turn  his  full  attention  to 
his  professional  business,  which,  by  this  time,  had  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  long  absence  in  the  field,  and  bade  fair 
to  be  far  more  prosperous  than  ever  before.  To  this  he 
directed  all  his  energies  for  several  years,  constantly  adding 
to  his  fame  as  a lawyer,  and  as  an  orator,  for  he  was  ever 
active  in  political  campaigns.  Indeed,  it  was  during  these 
years  that  he  came  into  prominence  in  his  State  as  one  of 
those  reserved  and  solid  political  factors  whom  it  would  be 
wise  to  draw  upon  when  there  was  hard  work  ahead.  So 
long  as  Governor  Morton  lived  he  was  first  in  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  Indiana  Republicans,  but  after  his  death  Gen- 
eral Harrison  was,  as  if  by  a process  of  natural  selection, 
largely  looked  to  as  a coming  power  in  Republican  coun- 
sels. Not  that  he  was  a politician  in  the  ordinary  sense  ; he 
could  not  buttonhole  or  drum  for  favor ; but  he  understood 
political  situations  thoroughly,  had  an  accurate  judgment  of 
results,  was  prudent  in  counsel  and  a powerful  organizer  and 
worker.  Above  all  he  was  frank  and  fearless,  and  friends 
as  well  as  enemies  knew  exactly  where  to  find  him. 

It  was  in  the  full  exercise  of  these  qualities  that  he  de~ 

(403) 


404 


Benjamin  harrisoN. 


dined  the  nomination  of  his  party  as  candidate  for  Governor 
of  his  State  in  1876.  The  choice  therefore  fell  to  Godlove 
S.  Orth,  upon  whom  the  enemy  opened  such  a merciless  fire 
as  to  break  down  his  political  record  and  force  his  with- 
drawal from  the  ticket.  General  Harrison  was  absent  from 
the  State  when  this  disparaging  event  took  place,  yet  the 
State  Central  Committee  immediately  put  him  on  the  ticket 
to  fill  the  vacant  place  and  recover,  as  best  he  might,  the 
valuable  ground  which  had  been  lost.  In  tendering  the 
nomination  to  General  Harrison  the  Committee  said  : “ The 
nomination  was  made  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  subserve 
the  best  interests  of  the  Republican  party  in  Indiana,  and  in 
tendering  it  to  you  we  do  so  with  the  assurance  that  you 
will  receive  the  united  and  earnest  vote  of  the  entire  party.” 
The  nomination  was  entirely  unsought  and  undesired,  but  it 
was  accepted  in  terms  that  indicated  a sense  of  public  duty. 
He  was  less  inclined  than  before  to  accept  it,  but  fully  ap- 
preciating the  emergency  and  knowing  that  time  was  already 
too  short  in  which  to  repair  damages,  he  consented  to  lead 
a forlorn  hope  in  order  that  his  party  organization  might  be 
conserved  and  its  principles  find  an  exponent  amid  the  des- 
perate conflict  already  on. 

His  opponent,  popularly  known  as  “ Blue  Jeans  Williams,” 
had  a strong  following  in  the  State,  and  he  shared  in  ad- 
dition the  strength  of  the  Tilden-Hendricks  ticket,  together 
with  the  inspiration  offered  by  Chairman  Barnum’s  copious 
boodle.  Though  General  Harrison  went  into  the  campaign 
at  a late  hour  and  under  auspices  from  which  a man  of  less 
heroic  mould  would  have  shrunk,  he  went  in  earnestly  and 
with  such  vigor  as  to  set  the  adverse  current  quite  towards 
himself  and  his  party.  He  worked  during  the  short  time 
at  his  disposal  with  herculean  energy,  spoke  eloquently  and 
often,  and  by  election  day  had  his  party  in  trim  for  a brave, 


benjamin  HARRISON. 


405 

if  losing,  fight  at  the  polls.  The  result  was  defeat,  yet  a vic- 
tory of  great  moment  for  him  personally,  for  he  ran  nearly 
2,000  votes  ahead  of  his  ticket,  and  nearly  4,000  ahead  of 
the  Republican  strength  as  shown  by  the  Congressional 
vote.  This  memorable  contest,  his  many  brilliant  speeches 
to  large  and  enthusiastic  audiences,  the  sacrifices  he  made 
for  his  party,  the  speedy  gathering  up  of  broken  forces,  the 
energy  which  he  infused  into  a despairing  situation,  gave 
him  a national  reputation  which  placed  him  in  high  demand 
where  like  vigor  and  eloquence  were  a necessity,  and  after 
the  October  election  his  voice  was  heard  in  nearly  all  the 
States  of  the  East  in  sturdy  plea  for  the  candidates  on  the 
Presidential  ticket.  From  that  time  till  1880  he  was  busily 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession,  and  in  1879  or  1880 
he  aided  the  Federal  Government  in  prosecuting  certain 
Democratic  conspirators  for  importing  ballot-box  stuffers 
into  Southern  Indiana.  Their  leader  was  convicted  and 
sentenced  to  the  penitentiary. 

In  the  campaign  of  1880  he  worked  with  his  wonted 
energy  and  brilliancy,  and  this  time  with  greater  success, 
for  not  only  the  Republican  Presidential  ticket  carried  Indi- 
ana by  6,641  plurality,  but  a Republican  Legislature  was 
elected.  This  event  brought  the  name  of  General  Harrison 
prominently  forward  as  a candidate  for  United  States  Sena- 
tor to  fill  the  place  about  to  be  vacated  by  Joseph  E.  Mc- 
Donald. There  were  other  aspirants  for  the  honor,  among 
whom  were  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  Godlove  S.  Orth,  John  C. 
New  and  W.  C.  Cumback,  but  the  voice  of  the  party  was 
practically  unanimous  for  the  man  who  had  been  fighting 
its  desperate  battles  for  so  many  years,  and  who  had  been 
one  of  its  most  conspicuous  figures  in  every  campaign  since 
1856.  All  the  contestants  withdrew  before  the  nominating 
caucus  met  and  left  the  field  clear  for  General  Harrison.  He 


406 


benjamin  Harrison. 


was  nominated  by  acclamation.  His  election  gave  the 
greatest  satisfaction  to  his  party  in  the  State,  and  it  was  felt 
that  the  honor  rested  on  one  who  was  in  every  respect 
splendidly  equipped  for  its  maintenance. 

He  assumed  his  Senatorial  duties  on  March  4,  1881.  The 
session  was  an  extra  one  for  executive  business  only,  and 
he  simply  attended  and  voted  when  occasion  arose.  When 
the  Senate  reassembled  in  the  following  December,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  and  opportunity 
offered,  he  assumed  his  share  of  the  duties  of  the  body. 
During  his  six  years  term  he  grew  rapidly  in  public  estima- 
tion and  proved  himself  fully  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
his  high  office  and  the  expectation  of  his  friends.  His 
reputation  became  national  as  one  of  the  best  lawyers  and 
ablest  debaters  in  that  grave  and  eminent  body.  The  lead- 
ing legislation  of  his  term  comprised,  first,  the  Tariff  Act 
of  1883.  On  this  important  measure,  prepared  by  the  Tariff 
Commission  with  great  deliberation,  he  took  high  protective 
ground,  and  his  arguments  showed  that  he  was  thoroughly 
versed  with  the  system  under  which  American  manufactures 
had  prospered  since  1861,  and  American  labor  had  been 
able  to  maintain  itself  on  a plane  far  above  the  pauper  rates 
of  the  old  world.  It  was  while  this  bill  was  pending  that 
he  had  occasion  to  cross  swords  with  his  colleague,  Senator 
Voorhees,  who  had  made  a rather  reckless  address  in  which 
he  affected  to  ridicule  the  Republicans  for  seeking  to  lower 
duties  on  perfumery.  Senator  Harrison  stepped  into  the 
area  in  front  of  the  desks,  and,  approaching  the  Democratic 
side,  began  a reply,  lasting  nearly  an  hour,  in  which  he  un- 
mercifully belabored  his  doughty  colleague,  and  left  him 
entirely  subdued.  It  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
masterly  efforts  ever  made  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  and 


benjamin  Harrison.  407 

Mr.  Voorhees  never  after  sought  occasion  for  a similar  en- 
counter. 

The  Tariff  views  of  General  Harrison  have  found  frequent 
expression  since  the  expiration  of  his  Senatorial  term,  and 
on  March  20,  1888,  before  the  Marquette  club  of  Chicago, 
he  took  occasion  to  say : — 

“There  is  another  question  to  which  the  Republican 
party  has  committed  itself,  and  on  the  line  of  which  it  has 
accomplished,  as  I believe,  much  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
country.  I believe  the  Republican  party  is  pledged  and 
ought  to  be  pledged  to  the  doctrine  of  protection  to  Amer- 
ican industries  and  American  labor.  I believe  that  in  so  far 
as  our  native  inventive  genius — which  seems  to  have  no  limit 
— and  our  productive  forces  can  supply  the  American 
market,  we  ought  to  keqp  it  for  ourselves.  And  yet  this 
new  captain  on  the  bridge  seems  to  congratulate  himself  on 
the  fact  that  the  voyage  is  still  prosperous  notwithstanding 
the  change  of  commanders.  He  seems  to  forget  that  the 
reason  that  the  voyage  is  still  prosperous  is  because  the 
course  of  the  ship  was  marked  out  before  he  went  on  the 
bridge  and  the  rudder  tied  down.  He  has  attempted  to 
take  a new  direction  since  he  has  been  in  command  with  a 
view  of  changing  the  sailing  course  of  the  old  craft,  but  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  he  has  made  the  blunder  of  mistaking 
the  flash  light  of  some  British  light-house  for  the  light  of 
day.  I do  not  intend  here  to-night,  in  this  presence,  to  dis- 
cuss this  tariff  question  in  any  detail.  I only  want  to  say 
that  in  the  passage  of  what  is  now  so  flippantly  called  the 
war  tariff,  to  raise  revenue  to  carry  on  the  war  out  of  the 
protective  duties  which  were  then  levied,  there  has  come  to 
this  country  a prosperity  and  development  which  would 
have  been  impossible  without  it,  and  that  a reversal  of  this 
policy  now,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Cleveland  according  to 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


408 

the  line  of  the  blind  statesman  from  Texas  (Mills),  would  be 
to  stay  and  interrupt  this  march  of  prosperity  on  which  we 
have  entered.  I am  one  of  those  uninstructed  political 
economists  that  have  an  impression  that  some  things  may 
be  too  cheap ; and  I cannot  find  myself  in  full  sympathy  with 
this  demand  for  cheaper  coats,  which  seems  to  me  neces- 
sarily to  involve  a cheaper  man  and  woman  under  the 
coat.  I believe  it  is  true  to-day  that  we  have  many  things 
in  this  country  that  are  too  cheap,  because  whenever  it  is 
proved  that  the  man  or  woman  who  produces  any  article 
cannot  get  a decent  living  out  of  it,  then  it  is  too  cheap.” 

The  second  great  measure  before  the  Senate  during  his 
term  was  the  “ Civil  Service  Bill  ” introduced  by  Geo.  H. 
Pendleton,  Democrat,  Ohio.  Though  introduced  by  a 
Democrat,  strange  to  say,  Democrats  were  its  chief  oppo- 
nents. Senator  Harrison  favored  the  bill,  and  voted  for  it, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  contended  for  the  perfect  freedom 
of  all  men,  no  matter  whether  Government  employes  or 
not,  to  contribute  their  money  to  the  cause  they  espoused. 
On  February  12,  1884.  he  expressed  himself  very  pointedly 
on  this  subject : — 

“ I should  regard  myself,”  he  said,  “ as  little  less  than  a 
slave  if  as  an  American  citizen  I believed,  let  me  say  for  il- 
lustration, in  the  doctrine  of  protection,  in  which  my  col- 
league also  takes  an  interest,  and  was  the  head  of  a bureau 
here,  receiving  a salary  of  $8,000  a year,  I was  not  allowed 
to  contribute  to  the  purchase  of  documents  or  the  distribu- 
tion of  speeches  that  were  calculated  to  impress  upon  the 
public  mind  the  views  I held.” 

He  voted  for  the  Civil  Service  bill,  and  later  on,  after 
President  Cleveland  became  the  appointing  power,  he  vigor- 
ously criticised  instances  of  alleged  departure  of  the  Ad- 
ministration from  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  law. 


k^NJAMiN  HARRISON.  409 

His  consistency  on  this  subject  is  shown  by  the  following 
extract  from  a speech  with  which  he  opened  the  Indiana 
campaign  of  1882  : — 

“ I want  to  assure  you  to-night  that  I am  an  advocate  of 
Civil  Service  Reform.  My  brief  experience  at  Washington 
has  led  me  often  to  utter  the  wish  with  an  emphasis  I do 
not  often  use  that  I might  be  forever  relieved  of  any  con- 
nection with  the  distribution  of  public  patronage.  I covet 
for  myself  the  free  and  unpurchased  support  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  and  long  to  be  able  to  give  my  time  and  energy 
solely  to  those  public  affairs  that  legitimately  relate  to  the 
honorable  trust  which  you  have  committed  to  me.” 

The  third  great  question  which  pressed  for  solution  dur- 
ing his  term  was  contained  in  the  “ Anti-Chinese  Bill.”  As 
Senator  Harrison’s  record  on  this  bill  has  been  subjected  to 
criticism  it  is  well  to  know  all  about  the  measure.  The 
proposition  to  close  our  doors  upon  the  Chinese  race  was 
very  slow  in  finding  any  favor  at  all  in  those  sections  where 
the  Chinese,  as  they  presented  themselves  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  were  personally  unknown.  For  many  years  the  Pacific 
coast  delegation  appealed  to  Congress  in  vain  for  protection 
from  the  incoming  Chinese  hordes.  Gradually  their  plea 
began  to  have  effect.  The  evidence  they  presented  of  the 
unfavorable  influence  on  the  coast  of  the  Chinese  immigra- 
tion and  the  danger  of  that  part  of  the  United  States  being 
overrun  by  Mongolians  began  to  be  considered,  and  grad- 
ually won  converts  in  the  East  to  the  Pacific  coast  view  of 
the  Chinese. 

Their  sentiments  were  incorporated  into  a bill  known  as 
House  bill  5804.  On  April  27,  1882,  it  came  up  in  the 
Senate  for  discussion.  Its  title  was  “ A bill  to  execute  cer- 
tain treaty  stipulations  with  the  Chinese.”  Mr.  Harrison 
made  two  brief  speeches  on  that  bill,  occupying  only  a few 


4io 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


lines  of  The  Recot'd,  and  printed  at  pages  3359  and  3360  of 
The  Co)igressio?ial  Record , Forty -seventh  Congress,  first 
session.  He  contended  that  as  the  treaty  used  the  word 
“ laborers,”  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  enlarge 
the  meaning  of  that  word  by  legislation ; that  whatever  the 
word  “ laborers  ” implied  in  the  treaty,  the  same  word  would 
be  held  to  have  the  same  meaning  in  any  law  that  Congress 
might  pass.  He  asked  Senator  Grover,  of  Oregon,  the 
pertinent  question,  whether,  if  he  found  the  proposed  law 
and  the  existing  treaty  in  conflict,  he  would  still  persist  in 
passing  the  law  and  thus  “ trampling  upon  our  treaty  obliga- 
tions ? ” To  this  inquiry  Mr.  Grover  made  no  reply.  Mr. 
Harrison’s  logic  was  invincible,  and  it  was  sustained  by  the 
Senate.  It  may  be  added  that  this  position  has  since  been 
maintained  by  every  President  and  Secretary  of  State  down 
even  to  Grover  Cleveland  and  Secretary  Bayard. 

The  controversy  over  the  bill  led  to  its  amendment  so  as 
to  make  it  fit  in  with  existing  treaties,  and  in  this  form  Sena- 
tor Harrison  became  its  ardent  champion  and  voted  for  it 
on  final  passage.  His  entire  attitude  was  that  of  a man  who 
saw  clearly  how  useless  and  dishonorable  it  was  to  legislate 
in  the  face  of  a solemn  treatv,  yet  that  the  spirit  of  the  pro- 
posed legislation  was  proper,  provided  it  could  be  so  arranged 
as  to  prevent  conflict  with  treaty  obligations.  Of  the 
amended  bill,  as  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Re- 
lations, of  which  Senator  Harrison  was  a member,  Senator 
Mitchell,  of  Oregon,  a chief  promoter  of  anti-Chinese  legisla- 
tion, said  : — “ I have  no  kind  of  doubt  that  it  is  as  strong  a 
bill  as  could  be  drawn,  and,  at  the  same  time,  have  kept 

within  the  provisions  of  our  treaty It  is  one  of  the 

best  bills  ever  reported  by  any  committee  on  the  subject.” 

In  1886  a supplementary  anti-Chinese  bill  was  introduced 
in  the  Senate,  when  General  Harrison  was  still  a member 


Hon.  Henry  M.  Teller. 

Born  in  Allegany  co.,  N.  Y.,  May  23,  1830 ; admitted  to  bar  in 
N.  Y. ; removed  to  Illinois,  1858 ; thence  to  Colorado,  1861 ; on  admis- 
sion of  Colorado  to  Statehood,  1876,  was  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  as  a 
Republican;  re-elected  to  U.  S.  Senate  for  the  term  1876-1882; 
appointed  Secretary  of  Interior  by  President  Arthur  in  1882,  and  served 
till  March  3,  1885  ; re-elected  to  Senate  in  1885,  and  again  in  1890 ; 
Chairman  of  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections ; member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Judiciary,  Private  Land  Claims  and  Indian  Tribes. 

(41 1) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


413 

of  that  body.  It  was  passed  without  a division,  Senator 
Harrison  voting  for  it  both  in  the  committee  and  in  the 
Senate.  Thus  General  Harrison  was  from  first  to  last  in 
favor  of  the  principle  underlying  the  Chinese  legislation. 

After  Mr.  Harrison’s  nomination  for  the  Presidency  at 
Chicago,  1888,  Senator  Mitchell  made  an  investigation  of 
his  record,  bearing  on  all  the  anti-Chinese  bills  and  says  : — 
“ I found  that  he  voted  against  two  measures  providing  a 
form  of  restricting  Chinese  immigration.  I talked  with 
General  Harrison  about  the  matter  and  he  gave  me  the 
grounds  on  which  he  objected  to  the  proposed  legislation, 
which  were  that  the  measures  were  in  direct  conflict  with 
existing  treaties.  He  held  that  before  we  passed  statutory 
laws  we  ought  to  abolish  the  existing  treaties,  so  as  to 
avoid  conflict.  That  is  exactly  the  position  I occupy,  and 
about  two  years  ago  I introduced  a joint  resolution  in  the 
Senate  proposing  the  abrogation  of  every  treaty  with  China, 
commercial  as  well  as  those  on  the  subject  of  immigration, 
and  my  intention  was  to  introduce  a general  Chinese  im- 
migration bill  which  would  take  the  form  of  statutory  law. 

“ One  of  the  bills  that  Senator  Harrison  opposed  was 
passed  by  both  houses  and  was  vetoed  by  President  Arthur. 
During  one  of  my  talks  with  Senator  Harrison  he  said : 
* As  a lawyer  I could  not  afford  to  vote  for  laws  which  I 
knew  to  be  in  direct  conflict  with  existing  treaties  and  which 
I knew  could  not  stand  even  the  test  they  would  be  subjected 
to  in  the  lower  courts.  I did  not  want  to  make  myself 
ridiculous  by  voting  for  a measure  which  would  conflict 
with  a treaty  placed  on  the  statute  books  during  ray  own 
term  of  public  life.’  I have,”  continued  Senator  Mitchell, 
“received  many  inquiries  from  my  constituents  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  I have  without  exception  stated  that  I considered 


4 H 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


General  Harrison’s  record  on  this  subject  not  inimical  to 
the  interests  of  our  people. 

“ But  the  Chinese  question  will  not  be  the  paramount  issue 
in  the  approaching  campaign  on  the  Pacific  slope.  We 
have  secured  as  much  restriction  of  immigration  and  as 
much  restriction  of  the  rights  of  Chinese  in  our  country  as 
we  can  get  at  this  time.  Our  people  are  practically  quiet 
on  the  subject  and  the  issue  at  the  polls  in  November  will 
be  fought  on  the  tariff.  The  recent  election  in  Oregon  shows 
what  position  the  people  there  hold  on  this  subject.  The 
nomination  of  General  Harrison,  it  seems  to  me,  was  the 
best  possible  solution  of  the  complication  in  which  the  con- 
vention found  itself  this  morning.” 

And  Representative  Morrow,  of  California,  also  said : — 
“ Mr.  Harrison’s  views  on  the  question  are  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  us  in  California.  We  are  all  protectionists  over 
there,  we  are  more  interested  in  knowing  what  is  going  to 
be  done  with  prunes  and  raisins,  and  borax  and  manufac- 
turing interests  generally  than  in  inquiring  what  a man 
thought  on  the  Chinese  question  in  1882.  Besides,  we 
think  we  have  got  the  matter  settled  at  last,  and  we  certainly 
prefer  Mr.  Harrison’s  views  of  the  inviolability  of  treaty 
obligations  to  those  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  who  proposes  to  in- 
troduce Chinese  products  free  of  duty.  The  California 
delegation  took  a leading  part  in  bringing  about  Mr.  Har- 
rison’s nomination,  and  we  shall  give  him  our  votes,  though, 
of  course,  you  know  who  our  first  choice  was.” 

And  the  newspapers  of  the  Pacific  coast  thus  view  the 
record : — 

General  Harrison’s  course  on  the  Chinese  question  was 
honorable;  just  and  right.  It  never  would  be  called  in  ques- 
tion except  by  men  whose  regard  for  the  obligations  of  their 
country  was  not  subordinated  to  a disposition  to  play  the 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


415 


part  of  a paltry  demagogue  to  ignorance  and  prejudice. 
Harrison  did  not  oppose  restriction  of  Chinese  immigration, 
but  insisted  that  the  acts  of  restriction  should  be  kept  within 
the  provisions  of  the  treaties.  Was  not  this  right  ? — Port- 
land Oregonian  ( Ind . Rep.). 

There  are  no  weak  points  in  Harrison’s  record.  The 
attempt  to  create  a prejudice  against  him  on  this  coast  on 
the  Chinese  question  will  not  cost  a vote.  Harrison  stood 
in  1878  where  Eastern  men  generally  stood. — San  Francisco 
Call  (Ind.). 

General  Harrison,  like  a great  many  other  prominent  men 
in  the  East,  Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans,  did  not  at 
first  grasp  the  importance  of  the  Chinese  question,  but  as 
soon  as  he  saw  that  the  rights  of  American  labor  and  the 
basic  principle  of  Protection  were  involved  in  it,  he  wheeled 
into  line  on  the  side  of  America,  and  has  ever  since  been 
the  firm  and  determined  opponent  of  Chinese  admission. — 
San  Francisco  Chronicle  (Rep.). 

Mr.  Harrison’s  position  on  the  Chinese  question  some 
years  ago  seems  to  be  the  main  reliance  of  the  Democracy 
for  beating  him.  California  is  not  anxious  to  know  what 
Mr.  Harrison  thought  about  Chinese  immigration  ten  years 
ago.  The  voters  of  this  State  want  to  know  what  Mr.  Har- 
rison thinks  of  Chinese  immigration  to-day. — San  Francisco 
Post  (Rep.).  t 

The  record  of  General  Harrison,  the  nominee  of  the  Re- 
publican party  for  the  Presidency,  is  identical  with  that  of 
every  anti-Chinese  citizen  of  California.  The  corning  of 
these  people  was  at  first  encouraged  by  almost  everybody 
in  this  State.  It  took  twenty  years  of  close  study  and  ex- 
amination into  all  the  details  of  the  question  tc  bring  about 
that  radical  change  in  the  opinion  of  California  and  the 
Pacific  States  in  relation  to  these  interlopers  which  is  now 


416 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


universally  entertained.  General  Harrison  underwent  pre- 
cisely the  same  change  of  sentiment  on  this  question  as  our 
own  people,  with  this  difference,  that  the  process  in  his  case 
was  much  speedier. — San  Francisco  Bulletin  ( Ind. ). 

The  “ Coin  and  Currency  ” question  was  an  important 
one  during  Senator  Harrison’s  term.  On  this  question  he 
expressed  himself  in  1885,  thus: — 

“ I have  never  believed  that  cheap  money,  in  the  sense  of 
depreciated  money,  was  desirable.  I have  always  thought 
and  said  that  the  interest  of  the  laboring  and  farming  classes 
especially  was  in  the  line  of  stable,  par  currency.  The  silver 
question  may  be  presented  in  divers  forms.  I am  a bi- 
metallist by  my  strong  conviction.  I think  silver  should  be 
preserved  as  a coin  metal,  but  it  is  very  apparent  that  the 
present  ratio  between  silver  and  gold  is  out  of  joint,  and 
that  something  ought  to  be  done  to  correct  this  inequality. 

“ The  aspect  of  the  question  here  is  this  : The  President 
has  taken  strong  grounds  for  a peremptory  stoppage  of  the 
coinage  of  the  silver  dollar,  and  the  fight  is  on  in  his  own 
party  in  the  House.  Nothing  we  can  do  in  the  Senate  on 
the  question  will  be  of  any  avail.” 

One  of  General  Harrison’s  strongest  titles  to  public  re- 
spect and  admiration  is  found  in  the  fact  that  when  the  in- 
flation craze  spread  over  the  country  and  swept  from  their 
moorings  many  who  have  since  lived  to  regret  their  infatua- 
tion, he  never  wavered  in  his  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  honest 
money. 

On  the  bill  to  prevent  the  importation  of  contract  labor 
Senator  Harrison  made  an  argument  in  favor  of  keeping 
out  immig'rants  brought  to  this  country  under  stipulations 
tonvork  for  lower  wages  than  those  prevailing  here.  This 
was  his  comment  on  the  subject : — 

“ If  I understand  the  evil  sought  to  be  guarded  against 

\ 


Born  in  Peekskill,  N.  Y.,  April  23,  1834;  graduated  at  Yale,  1856;. 
studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  elected  to  New  York  Assembly, 
1861-62;  elected  Speaker;  elected  Secretary  of  New  York  State,  1863; 
Tax  Commissioner  of  N.  Y.  city;  nominated  Minister  to  Japan ; General 
Counsel  for  Hudson  R.  & N.  Y.  Central  R.  R’s,  1866  and  1869;  candi- 
date for  Lieut. -Governor,  1872,  but  defeated  ; Regent  of  State  University, 
1874;  President  of  N.  Y.  Central  R.  R.,  1885;  President  of  Union 
League  and  Yale  Alumni  Association  ; prominent  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent of  U.  S.  before  conventions  of  1884,  1888  ; manager  of  Harrison 
forces  in  convention  of  1892;  celebrated  as  orator  and  lecturer;  spoken 
of  as  Secretary  of  State  to  succeed  Blaine. 

(418) 


\ 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


419 


by  this  bill  it  is  that  men  living  in  foreign  countries  where 
the  rate  of  wages  and  the  conditions  of  labor  are  so  different 
from  what  they  are  in  this  country  shall  not  there,  under 
the  strain  that  is  upon  them,  make  a contract  which,  of 
course,  is  governed  by  rates  of  wages  there  that  put  them 
in  the  power  of  the  person  furnishing  the  money  when  they 
come  to  this  country,  and  have  a tendency  to  import  the 
rates  of  foreign  labor  and  establish  them  here.  I see  noth- 
ing to  prevent  any  person  who  is  benevolently  disposed,  who 
has  no  personal  interest  in  an  individual,  from  aiding  any 
one  to  come  here,  provided  only  he  does  not  attempt  to 
secure  the  money  he  advances  by  a mortgage  on  that  man’s 
labor.” 

He  also  spoke  on  the  alien  ownership  of  land,  taking  a 
decided  stand  against  the  evil  of  foreigners  acquiring  large 
bodies  of  public  and  private  lands  to  the  exclusion  of  actual 
settlers,  who  would  improve  small  farms  and  make  for  them- 
selves homes. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  48th  Congress,  General 
Harrison  was  heard  in  many  speeches  on  the  Blair  Educa- 
tional bill,  to  which  he  made  many  serious  objections.  In 
one  speech  on  the  subject  he  said : — 

“ There  is  a giving  that  pauperizes;  there  is  a giving  that 
enfeebles.  It  is  against  that  sort  of  giving  that  I protest. 
The  wisest  managers  of  benevolence  in  these  late  years  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  giving  should  always  be  so 
regulated  as  to  save  self-respect,  and  awaken  in  the  mind  of 
the  recipient  the  lost  faith  in  his  ability  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. We  should  carefully  avoid  that  giving  which  creates 
a disposition  to  lean  and  to  expect,  which  takes  the  stamina 
and  strength  and  self-dependence  out  of  men.  That  prin- 
ciple will,  I think,  apply  to  the  giving  which  is  proposed  by 
this  bill.” 


420 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


After  the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland,  and  when 
the  Republicans  of  the  Senate  took  issue  with  the  Execu- 
tive about  appointments,  Senator  Harrison  was  heard  on 
several  occasions  in  speeches  of  a critical  character. 

On  the  question  of  the  admission  of  Dakota  as  a State, 
his  reports  and  speeches  took  favorable  and  earnest  ground, 
and  they  have  never  been  answered,  though  for  partisan 
reasons  the  right  that  is  clearly  due  the  populous  and  enter- 
prising Territory  has  been  withheld  for  years.  It  was  Sen- 
ator Harrison’s  strong  plea  for  Dakota  which  first  roused 
the  country  to  realize  the  injustice  done  to  a great  body  of 
honest  settlers  by  the  partisan  exclusion  of  that  Territory 
from  Statehood.  The  Union  soldier  had  no  more  eloquent 
and  faithful  champion  than  Senator  Harrison,  throughout 
his  Senatorial  career.  All  his  speeches  in  their  behalf 
evince  the  warmest  affection  for  the  “ boys  who  wore  the 
blue,”  and  the  deepest  solicitude  for  their  welfare.  He  was 
really  the  father  of  that  pension  bill  which  was  asked  for  by 
the  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  after- 
wards approved  by  them. 

In  the  course  of  a speech  in  which  he  had  occasion  to 
reply  to  Senator  Voorhees’  claim  to  be  “ the  soldier’s 
friend,”  General  Harrison  gave  utterance  to  these  earnest 
words,  which  seem  to  apply  as  well  to  a good  many  others  : 
— “ The  man  who  lived  through  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
and  did  not  make  some  sacrifice  for  the  success  of  the  Union 
armies — who  did  not  say  one  brave  word,  or  do  one  brave 
thing,  when,  with  bare  and  bleeding  breasts,  our  soldiers 
looked  into  the  face  of  hell  for  their  country — can  never  be 
enshrined  as  the  soldier’s  friend.” 

Senator  Harrison  had  been  for  years  a member  of  the 
Mississippi  Improvement  Commission,  and  in  the  Senate  he 
was  a strong  advocate  of  liberal  appropriations  for  im- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


421 


proving  the  navigation  of  that  important  waterway.  His 
advocacy  of  self-government  for  Alaska  was  able  and 
earnest. 

General  Harrison’s  service  to  the  nation  in  the  Senate  won 
for  him  the  respect  of  his  fellow-members,  and  the  apprecia- 
tion of  an  intelligent  constituency.  The  place  he  early  and 
easily  assumed  as  a statesman  of  marked  ability,  large  in- 
formation, sterling  Republicanism  and  unblemished  charac- 
ter, he  held  to  the  end  of  his  term. 

General  Harrison’s  term  in  the  Senate  expired  March  4, 
1887,  and  the  Legislature  to  choose  his  successor  was  to  be 
elected  in  the  fall  of  1 886.  That  was  a memorable  campaign, 
and  was  to  a large  extent  General  Harrison’s  own  campaign, 
though  many  able  assistants  stood  by  his  side  in  the  fight. 
The  Democrats  had  carried  the  State  in  1882  by  1 1,000 
majority  and  in  1884,  during  a Presidential  year,  by  nearly 
7,000  majority.  They  had  so  gerrymandered  the  State  as 
to  make  a Republican  majority  in  the  Legislature  next  to 
impossible,  and  they  boasted  that  it  would  require  a popular 
majority  of  20,000  in  the  State  to  overcome  the  effects  of 
their  gerrymander.  Add  to  this  the  shameful  perversion  of 
the  civil  service  rules  which  President  Cleveland  permitted 
in  order  that  his  party  might  succeed,  and  you  can  form  a 
faint  idea  of  the  odds  against  the  Republicans.  There  were 
grave  doubts  in  the  minds  of  many  shrewd  Republicans 
about  the  practicability  of  an  energetic  campaign  at  all,  and 
General  Harrison  was  almost  alone  in  the  opinion  that  the 
Legislature,  or  even  the  State,  could  be  carried.  This  is  no 
disparagement  of  other  Republican  leaders,  who  did  yeomen 
service  in  the  campaign,  but  it  is  a fact.  The  result  attested 
General  Harrison’s  wisdom  and  his  work.  The  Republicans 
carried  the  State  and  came  within  a hair’s  breadth  of  carrying 
the  Legislature,  though  the  apportionment  had  been  gerry- 


422 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


mandered  so  as  to  give  the  Democrats  at  least  forty-six 
majority  on  joint  ballot,  and  Senator  Voorhees  said  he  should 
feel  personally  disgraced  if  that  was  not  the  result.  General 
Harrison  carried  every  Republican  legislative  district  and 
twenty-two  Democratic  districts,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
advantage  the  Democrats  had  in  the  State  Senators  holding 
over,  he,  instead  of  Mr.  Turpie,  would  have  been  the  United 
States  Senator.  As  it  was,  the  aggregate  Republican  majority 
on  the  Legislative  ticket  was  over  10,000,  and  the  polling  of 
it  has  been  distinctively  recognized  as  Harrison’s  victory. 
The  Republican  candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor  was 
elected  by  2,093  majority.  The  Democratic  majority  on 
joint  ballot  in  the  Legislature  was  but  two,  but  it  was  suf- 
ficient to  elect  Turpie,  though  grave  doubts  hung  over  the 
legality  of  the  choice. 


m i mm 


Hon.  Alfred  A.  Taylor. 


Born  in  Carter  co.,  Tenn.,  1849;  educated  at  Edge  Hill  and  Pen- 
nington, N.  J. ; admitted  to  bar,  1870 ; elected  to  Tennessee  Legislature, 
1875;  distinguished  as  an  orator  and  in  Republican  councils  in  the 
State ; candidate  for  Governor  in  1886  and  defeated  by  his  brother,  R. 
L.  Taylor;  delegate  to  Republican  National  Convention  in  1888; 
elected  as  Republican  to  51st  and  52d  Congresses  to  represent  First  Ten- 
nessee District,  comprising  twelve  counties;  member  of  Committee  on 
Elections  and  Invalid  Pensions;  an  earnest,  popular  member,  who 
commands  the  respect  of  his  peers. 

(424) 


V. 


RETURN  TO  HIS  PROFESSION. 

On  General  Harrison’s  retiracy  from  the  Senate  in  1887, 
he  returned  to  Indianapolis  and  resumed  his  profession. 
His  reputation  had  been  so  well  established  at  the  bar,  that 
he  was  soon  in  the  midst  of  a practice  which  embraced  a 
high  class  of  cases. 

This  period,  too,  contributed  to  the  general  enlargement 
of  his  fame,  and  to  the  firm  place  in  popular  affection  which 
came  about  with  contact  with  the  people  and  fuller  knowl- 
edge of  his  ability  and  steadfastness  to  principle.  He  came 
into  demand  as  an  orator  on  many  public  occasions,  and  his 
speeches  were  then  as  now  models  of  manly,  clear,  forcible, 
pointed  thought,  suited  exactly  to  the  occasion.  Perhaps 
the  one  which  attracted  widest  attention  was  that  delivered 
at  a banquet  of  the  Marquette  Club,  March  20,  1888,  on 
which  occasion  his  theme  was  “ Citizenship  and  Franchise,” 
— a theme  which  has  grown  in  importance  in  his  bosom  ever 
since,  and  has  become  vital  to  the  principle  of  free  institu- 
tions. In  it  he  said  : — 

“ What  questions  are  we  to  grapple  with  ? What  unfin- 
ished work  remains  to  be  done  ? It  seems  to  me  that  the 
work  that  is  unfinished  is  to  make  that  Constitutional  grant 
of  citizenship,  the  franchise  to  the  colored  men  of  the  South, 
a practical  and  living  reality.  The  condition  of  things  is  such 
in  this  country — a Government  by  Constitutional  majority — 
that  whenever  the  people  become  convinced  that  an  adminis- 
tration or  a law  does  not  represent  the  will  of  the  majority  of 


426 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


our  qualified  electors,  then  that  administration  ceases  to 
challenge  the  respect  of  our  people,  and  the  law  ceases  to 
command  their  willing  obedience.  This  is  a Republican 
Government,  a government  by  majority,  the  majority  to  be 
ascertained  by  fair  count,  and  each  elector  expressing  his  will 
at  the  ballot-box.  I know  of  no  reason  why  any  law  should 
yield  respect  to  any  executive  officer  whose  title  is  not  based 
upon  a majority  vote  of  the  qualified  electors  of  this  country. 
(Applause.)  What  is  the  condition  of  things  in  the  Southern 
States  to-day  ? 

“ The  Republican  vote  is  absolutely  suppressed.  Elec- 
tions in  many  of  those  States  have  become  a farce.  In  the 
last  Congressional  election  in  the  State  of  Alabama  there  were 
several  Congressional  districts  where  the  entire  vote  for  mem- 
bers of  Congress  did  not  reach  2,000,  whereas  in  most  of  the  dis- 
tricts of  the  North  the  vote  cast  at  our  Congressional  elections 
goes  from  30,000  to  50,000.  I had  occasion  to  say  a day 
or  two  ago  that  in  a single  Congressional  district  in  the 
State  of  Nebraska  there  were  more  votes  cast  to  elect  one 
Congressman  than  were  cast  in  the  State  of  Alabama  at  the 
same  election  to  elect  their  whole  delegation.  Out  of  what 
does  this  come  ? The  suppression  of  the  Republican  vote ; 
the  understanding  among  our  Democratic  friends  that  it  is 
not  necessary  that  they  should  vote  because  their  opponents 
are  not  allowed  to  vote.  But  some  one  will  suggest:  * Is 
there  a remedy  for  this  ? ’ I do  not  know,  my  fellow-citi- 
zens, how  far  there  is  a legal  remedy  under  our  Constitution, 
but  it  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  an  adequate  answer.  It 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  conclusive  against  the  agitation 
of  this  question  even  if  we  should  be  compelled  to  respond 
to  the  arrogant  question  that  is  asked  us  : ‘ What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ? ’ Even  if  we  should  be  compelled  to 
answer : ‘We  can  do  nothing  but  protest/  is  it  not  worth  while 


BKNJAMIN  HARRISON. 


427 


here,  and  in  relation  to  this  American  question,  that  we 
should  at  least  lift  up  our  protest,  that  we  should  at  least 
denounce  the  wrong,  that  we  should  at  least  deprive  the 
perpetrators  of  what  we  used  to  call  the  usufructs  of  the  crime  ? 
If  you  cannot  prevent  a burglar  from  breaking  into  your 
house,  you  will  do  a great  deal  toward  discouragingburglary 
if  you  prevent  him  from  carrying  off  anything,  and  so  it 
seems  to  me  that  if  we  can,  upon  this  question,  arouse  the 
indignant  protest  of  the  North  and  unite  our  efforts  in  a de- 
termination that  those  who  perpetrate  these  wrongs  against 
popular  suffrage  shall  not  by  means  of  those  wrongs  seat  a 
President  at  Washington  to  secure  the  Federal  patronage  in 
a State,  we  shall  have  done  much  to  bring  this  wrong  to  an 
end.  But  at  least  while  we  are  protesting  by  representatives 
from  our  State  Department  at  Washington  against  wrongs 
perpetrated  in  Russia  against  the  Jew,  and  in  popular  as- 
semblies here  against  the  wrongs  which  England  has  in- 
flicted upon  Ireland,  shall  we  not  at  least  in  reference  to  this 
gigantic  and  intolerable  wrong  in  our  own  country,  as  a 
party,  lift  up  a stalwart  and  determined  protest  against  it  ? 

“ But  some  of  these  independent  journalists,  about  which 
our  friend  Macmillan  taught,  call  this  the  ‘ bloody  shirt.’ 
They  say  we  are  striving  to  revive  the  strife  of  the  war,  to 
rake  over  the  extinct  embers,  to  kindle  the  fire  again.  I 
want  it  understood  that  for  one  I have  no  quarrel  with  the 
South  for  what  took  place  between  1861  and  1865.  Iam 
willing  to  forget  that  they  were  rebels,  at  least  as  soon  as  they 
are  willing  to  forget  it  themselves  [laughter,]  and  that  time  does 
not  seem  to  have  come  yet  to  them.  But  our  complaint  is 
against  what  was  done  in  1884,  not  against  what  was  done 
during  the  war.  Our  complaint  is  against  what  will  be 
done  this  year,  not  what  was  done  between  1861  and  1865. 
No  bloody  shirt — though  that  cry  never  had  any  terror  for 


428 


Benjamin  Harrison. 


me.  I believe  we  greatly  underestimate  the  importance  of 
bringing  the  issue  to  the  front,  and  with  that  ofttime  Repub- 
lican courage  and  outspoken  fidelity  to  truth  denouncing  it 
the  land  over.  If  we  cannot  do  anything  else,  we  can  either 
make  these  people  ashamed  of  this  outrage  against  the  bal- 
lot or  make  the  world  ashamed  of  them.” 

General  Harrison’s  personal  courage,  soldierly  qualities 
and  great  value  as  a citizen  never  came  into  more  timely 
play  than  during  the  great  railway  strikes  of  1877,  which 
hung  for  so  long  as  a threat  upon  the  peace  of  communi- 
ties, and  resulted  in  enormous  losses  of  property.  In  this 
instance,  he  unconsciously  wrote  one  of  the  brightest 
chapters  of  his  life,  not  only  by  his  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  law  and  order,  but  by  his  readiness  to  aid  the  working 
man  to  obtain  the  highest  possible  reward  for  his  labor. 
The  strikers  had  burned  $4,<x>o,ooo  of  property  in  Pitts- 
burg on  July  22.  The  strike  had  spread  West  and  was  at 
its  height  in  Indianapolis,  where  was  a United  States  Arse- 
nal with  300,000  stand  of  arms,  and  only  twenty  soldiers  to 
protect  them.  The  Mayor  became  alarmed  and  called  the 
citizens  in  mass-meeting.  Every  citizen  of  influence  went. 
A committee  of  safety  was  formed,  irrespective  of  party. 
One  of  its  members  was  Senator  McDonald,  who  declared 
that  “ the  city  must  be  protected  from  mob  violence  by 
thorough  organization.”  The  meeting  also  appointed  a 
committee  to  wait  on  the  strikers.  General  Harrison  was 
on  this  committee.  The  part  he  took  is  shown  by  the 
record : — 

“ General  Harrison  counseled  obedience  to  the  law,  but 
at  the  same  time  very  strongly  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  wages  were  too  low  and  desired  very  much  that  they 
should  be  raised.  He  was  willing  to  use  his  influence  with 
those  in  authority  in  favor  of  this  desired  increase.” 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


429 


Meanwhile  the  traffic  was  blockaded.  Merchants  could 
do  no  business.  Fear  of  the  destruction  of  property  was 
growing.  With  terror  upon  them  another  meeting  of  lead- 
ing citizens  was  called  on  the  26th,  at  which  speeches  were 
made  by  men  of  all  parties  declaring  that  life  and  property 
were  in  danger  and  that  riot  must  be  prevented.  The  re- 
sult was  a stronger  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  composed 
of  Joseph  E.  McDonald,  General  Benjamin  Harrison,  Hon. 
Conrad  Baker,  General  John  Love,  General  T.  A.  Morris, 
General  Daniel  McCauley  and  General  W.  Q.  Gresham. 
Governor  Williams  issued  a proclamation,  in  response  to 
which  the  citizens  enrolled  themselves  in  companies.  The 
Governor  requested  General  Harrison  to  take  command  of 
the  companies.  He  declined,  saying  he  was  already  a 
captain  of  one  company.  General  McCauley  was  then 
placed  in  command.  General  Harrison’s  company  was  as- 
signed to  protect  the  armory.  It  was  the  key  to  the  situa- 
tion. There  alone  could  the  rioters  obtain  arms,  and  it 
must  be  defended  at  all  hazards. 

General  Harrison  at  once  put  the  buildings,  which  were 
scattered  over  several  acres  of  ground  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  city,  in  a complete  state  of  defence.  While  thus  en- 
gaged in  military  duty,  he  did  not  cease  exerting  all  his 
influence  to  bring  about  peace.  He  was  urged  to  attack 
the  strikers  and  compel  them  to  disperse.  His  reply, 
prompt  and  stern,  has  been  preserved  in  its  very  words.  It 
was : 

“I  don't  propose  to  go  out  and  shoot  down  my  neighbors 
unless  it  is  positively  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  uphold 
the  law." 

Not  many  days  afterwards  the  strike  was  over.  Two 
hundred  of  the  strikers  had  been  arrested  by  order  of 
Judge  Drummond,  of  the  United  States  Court,  for  interfer- 


430 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


ing  with  the  operations  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rail- 
road, then  in  the  hands  of  receivers.  These  misguided  men 
were  all  sent  to  prison  for  ninety  days.  Thereupon  General 
Harrison  voluntarily  made  a plea  in  their  behalf.  He  rep- 
resented to  Judge  Drummond  that  the  object  of  their  pros- 
ecution had  been  accomplished ; that  they  had  been  taught 
that  they  were,  like  all  other  citizens,  subject  to  the  law,  and 
General  Harrison  expressed  his  belief  that  they  would  heed 
the  lesson  if  released.  Judge  Drummond  granted  the  plea, 
and  as  the  prisoners  filed  out  to  freedom  many  of  them 
grasped  General  Harrison’s  hand  and  thanked  him  for  his 
interference  in  their  behalf. 


VI. 

HARRISON  AT  HOME. 

Family  life  is  an  infallible  index  to  character.  Where 
domestic  relations  are  on  a high  plane,  the  participants  can- 
not be  without  excellent  heads  and  good  hearts. 

In  person,  President  Harrison  is  not  of  commanding 
height — rather  below  than  above  the  medium.  He  has, 
however,  a straight,  strong,  broad-shouldered  figure,  fine 
soldierly  bearing,  a genial  face  and  an  easy  dignity  of  man- 
ner, that  render  him  noticeable  and  distinguished  among  men. 
His  head  is  large,  shapely,  and  indicative  of  those  mental 
powers  and  resources  which  have  placed  him  in  the  first 
rank  of  American  thinkers  and  statesmen.  His  hair  and 
beard  are  of  the  blonde  type,  and  do  not  show  distinctly  the 
traces  of  gray  which  years  and  the  cares  of  State  might  well 
excuse. 

President  Harrison  has  been  charged  with  being  a reserved, 
unapproachable,  cold  man.  There  is  no  ground  for  such  a 
charge,  and  it  is  never  made  except  by  those  who  thereby 
express  disappointment  over  failure  to  receive  favors,  or  to 
use  him  for  their  purposes.  He  is  not  a bold  man,  nor  an 
effusive  one.  He  is  not  a man  of  promises  on  the  spot,  to 
break  them  upon  deliberation.  But  he  is  most  genial  and 
urbane  as  a host,  and  as  an  official  is  the  most  willing  to 
receive  and  the  readiest  to  hear  of  all  men  in  public  place. 
It  is  equally  true  that  he  always  has  something  pleasant, 
tactful  and  instructive  to  say — the  high  art  of  dismissing 
with  grace  and  dignity. 

Orderly  industry  is  a characteristic  of  Harrison's  civic  and 

(43i) 


432 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


public  life.  His  powers  of  application  are  wonderful,  and 
his  perfection  of  mental  discipline  is  such  that  disorder  does 
not  set  in  when  it  is  necessary  to  pass  from  one  subject  to 
another.  Said  his  law  partner  in  Indianapolis,  “ I have  seen 
Mr.  Harrison,  when  in  the  Senate,  come  home  to  his  law 
office  in  Indianapolis,  drive  straight  from  the  train,  enter  and 
inquire  what  he  could  do,  just  as  if  his  official  absence  had 
hardly  occasioned  a break  in  his  business.  Then  he  would 
take  up  the  transcript  of  a case,  study  it  during  the  night,  go 
into  court  the  next  morning  a perfect  master  of  its  details, 
and  make  one  of  his  most  powerful  arguments.”  This  same 
trait  appeared  in  all  his  State  and  National  Campaigns,  fitted 
him  for  that  accuracy  and  power  which  characterized  his 
debates  in  the  Senate,  and  for  the  preparation  of  those  clear 
and  intelligent  reports  which  rendered  his  Committee  work 
so  useful  and  impressive. 

President  Harrison  has  not  acquired  wealth.  His  income 
from  his  law  practice,  after  it  became  established,  was  always 
ample  for  the  maintenance  of  his  plain,  substantial  home  in 
Indianapolis,  but  his  charities  were  large,  and  he  found  more 
delight  in  dispensing  them  than  in  hoarding  his  surplus  in- 
come. Rich  and  poor  were  alike  welcome  to  his  gates,  and 
his  home  was  reckoned  as  one  of  the  most  hospitable  in 
Indianapolis. 

All  his  life  he  has  been  a consistent  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  an  industrious  worker  along  the  lines 
of  practical  religion.  Devout  by  nature,  he  enlarges  faith 
by  charitable  works,  and  enforces  the  doctrine,  by  example, 
that  labor  for  the  betterment  of  society  is  best  bestowed 
when  it  is  given  a good  practical  turn.  With  him  the  church 
is  an  institution  as  well  as  a sect,  an  agent  for  the  ameliora- 
tion of  mankind  as  well  as  a medium  for  the  expression  of 


Hon.  Charles  Foster. 

Born  near  Tiffin,  Ohio,  April  12,  1828;  educated  in  Newark  Academy 
and  by  private  tutors ; entered  mercantile  and  banking  business  and  en- 
gaged for  fifty-six  years  in  same;  elected,  as  Republican,  to  42d,  43d, 
44th  and  45th  Congresses ; served  on  Committees  of  Claims,  Appropria- 
tions and  Ways  and  Means ; Chairman  of  sub-committee  appointed  to 
inquire  into  Louisiana  affairs,  1875;  appointed  by  President,  Chairman 
of  Commission  to  negotiate  treaty  with  Sioux  Indians,  May,  1888;  re- 
ceived votes  of  Republican  members  of  Ohio  Legislature  for  Senator, 
1890;  appointed  Secretary  of  Treasury,  by  President  Harrison,  to  suc- 
ceed Hon.  Wm.  Windom,  deceased,  February  7,  1891 ; an  able,  con- 
servative financier. 


(433) 


Tilt  iitiUBY 
QF  TSt 

£SEUIY  T~:  UK8B 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.  435 

personal  belief  and  a form  for  the  regulation  of  personal 
conduct. 

For  years  President  Harrison  held  the  position  of  elder 
in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Indianapolis,  and  labored 
in  its  Sunday-school.  He  was  punctilious  about  attendance, 
and  morning  and  evening,  on  Sundays,  he  and  his  family 
occupied  the  family  pew.  Even  when  called  away  on  busi- 
ness, he  strove  to  shape  it  so  that  he  could  reach  the  city 
on  Saturday  nights  in  order  to  enjoy  the  quiet  and  fulfil  the 
duties  of  a home  Sabbath.  In  one  of  his  many  hot  cam- 
paigns he  was  pressed  to  address  a meeting  on  Saturday 
night.  “ I am,”  said  he,  “ entirely  willing  to  speak  to  you, 
but  you  must  have  a locomotive  ready  to  carry  me  to 
Indianapolis  before  midnight.” 

He  was  devoted  to  his  large  Bible  Class,  composed  of 
young  men,  students,  clerks,  and  others.  His  method  of 
Bible-class  teaching  was  so  alive  with  interest  that  the  class 
speedily  swelled  in  number  and  its  ranks  were  always  full. 
His  skill  in  cross-examining  witnesses  in  the  court-room  was 
turned  to  good  purpose  in  the  Bible-class,  where  his  method 
of  instruction  was  what  is  styled  catechetical,  consisting 
rather  of  questions  so  directed  as  to  draw  out  the  knowledge 
of  the  pupils  than  of  didactic  lectures,  meant  to  drive  facts 
or  theories  into  their  heads.  His  pupils  hold  him  in  the 
highest  esteem,  and  his  library  and  home  show  many 
evidences  of  their  affection  in  the  shape  of  books  and  other 
class  souvenirs,  presented  on  appropriate  occasions,  such  as 
Christmas  and  anniversary  days. 

In  his  devotion  to  religion  and  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
work  and  charity,  Mr.  Harrison  has  ever  been  ably  seconded 
by  his  estimable  wife.  For  years  she  taught  the  Infant  De- 
partment of  the  Sunday-school  of  her  church,  and  presided 
over  its  Aid  and  Missionary  Societies,  Her  name  is  in  - 


436 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


separably  connected  with  those  organizations  which  have 
for  their  object  the  civilization  of  Indians  and  the  extending 
of  aid  to  missions  and  schools  in  foreign  lands. 

In  personal  appearance,  Mrs.  Harrison  is  of  matronly 
figure ; finely  chiseled  features;  beautiful  and  expressive  face; 
brown,  vivacious  eyes  ; dark,  slightly  gray-lined  hair ; firm, 
smiling  lip.  She  is  of  easy,  affable  manner ; pleasing, 
intellectual  speech ; and  in  full  possession  of  the  happy 
accomplishment  of  imparting  her  sense  of  comfort  and 
welcome  to  all  who  meet  her. 

They  have  reared  two  children,  a son  and  daughter. 
Their  son,  Russell  Harrison,  married  Miss  Saunders,  daugh- 
ter of  Senator  Saunders,  of  Nebraska.  He  is  an  editor  and 
has  acquired  newspaper  interests  in  Helena,  Mont.,  and  New 
York.  The  daughter,  Miss  Mary  Harrison,  married  James 
R.  McKee,  an  Indianapolis  merchant. 

During  his  six  years  of  Senatorial  life,  Harrison  and  his 
family  did  not  aspire  to  the  show  and  cost  of  housekeeping 
in  Washington.  Yet,  having  the  prestige  of  illustrious 
families  on  both  sides  and  the  graces  of  cultured  life,  they 
took  conspicuous  place  in  the  social  realm  of  the  National 
Capital  and  dispensed  a modest  but  well-bred  hospitality. 
Miss  Harrison  ranked  as  one  of  the  most  popular  girls  in 
Washington,  while  Mrs.  Harrison  endeared  herself  to  a large 
and  influential  circle  of  friends. 

Since  the  occupancy  of  the  White  House  by  President 
Harrison  and  his  family,  they  have  perpetuated,  as  far  as 
practicable,  the  home  life  which  all  along  gave  them  so  much 
happiness  and  appeared  so  beautiful.  Mrs.  Harrison,  by  her 
knowledge  of  art,  by  her  understanding  of  household 
arrangement,  by  her  social  tact  and  graces,  has  made  the 
Presidential  mansion  a handsome  and  comfortable  abode,  a 
social  centre,  a source  of  delightful  influences,  and  has  easily 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


437 


maintained  and  greatly  added  to  the  lustre  of  the  title, 
“ First  Lady  in  the  Land."  Mrs.  McKee  has  been  her 
almost  constant  companion,  and  her  children  serve  to  flush 
the  home  with  their  sunlight.  The  venerable  father,  Mr. 
Scott,  passes  his  declining  days  in  the  midst  of  his  children 
of  three  generations.  President  Harrison  himself  finds 
daily  escape  from  the  cares  of  State  in  the  bosom  of  this 
happy  family,  participates  in  their  councils,  joins  in  their 
charities,  their  church  goings,  their  private  and  public  en- 
tertainments, their  stated  receptions,  and  beautifies  by  the 
dignity  of  his  presence  and  the  constancy  of  his  relations 
the  home  that  the  nation  has  provided  for  its  honored  ser- 
vants. 


A PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATE. 


General  Harrison’s  name  was  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  Presidency  in  the  National  Republican  Convention 
of  1880,  but  he  promptly  checked  the  movement  in  his 
favor.  It  was  again  favorably  considered  in  1884,  and  this 
time  far  more  seriously  than  has  ever  been  made  public  or, 
possibly,  than  General  Harrison  himself  ever  suspected. 

When  the  Republican  party  met  in  National  Convention 
at  Chicago,  June  19,  1888,  it  was  felt  by  every  delegate  that 
the  work  before  him  required  unusual  care  and  deliberation. 
President  Cleveland  had  been  placed  in  nomination  for  a 
second  term  by  the  Democrats  at  St.  Louis,  and  Allen  G. 
Thurman,  of  Ohio,  had  been  named  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
This  made  the  geography  of  the  political  situation  compara- 
tively clear.  In  1884  the  Democrats  had  had  a decided  ad- 
vantage by  their  wisdom  in  placing  the  head  and  tail  of 
their  ticket  in  the  two  most  doubtful  States.  They  had  now 
virtually  abandoned  Indiana — left  it  open  as  an  arena.  As 
to  the  issues  of  the  campaign,  these  had  been  made  plain 
by  the  President’s  message,  the  Mills  Tariff  Bill,  framed  in 
parsuance  of  the  message,  and  the  St.  Louis  platform,  which 
indorsed  both  the  message  and  the  bill.  Long  before  the 
Convention  many  estimable  and  real  candidates  loomed  into 
prominence,  the  chief  names  being  Harrison,  Ind. ; Sher- 
man, O. ; Alger,  Mich. ; Gresham,  Ind. ; Allison,  Iowa ; 
Depew,  N.  Y. ; Phelps,  N.  J. ; Hawley,  Conn. ; Rusk,  Wis. 
There  was,  therefore,  a wide  field  to  select  from.  The  Con- 
vention was  not  like  other  Conventions  in  the  respect  that 
(438) 


Hon.  Stephen  B.  Elkins. 

Born  in  Perry  co.,  Ohio,  September  26,  1841 ; graduated  from  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  1860;  admitted  to  bar,  1863;  practiced  in  New 
Mexico  for  several  years;  elected  to  Territorial  Legislature  in  1866,  and 
soon  after  made  Attorney-General  of  Territory;  appointed  U.  S.  District 
Attorney  in  1868;  elected  Delegate  to  Congress,  1873;  re-elected  in 
1875 ; Delegate  to  Republican  National  Conventions,  1884,  1888 ; large 
business  and  banking  interests  in  Santa  Fe,  also  large  land  owner; 
moved  to  West  Virginia,  and  extensively  engaged  in  mining,  timber, 
railroad  and  banking  interests;  appointed,  by  President  Harrison, 
Secretary  of  War,  December  17,  1891. 

(439) 


i - . -at 

.11  8'f  EUB33 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


441 


it  had  the  work  of  deliberate  selection  before  it.  It  was  not 
there,  in  better  judgment  at  least,  to  accept  a candidate  nor 
to  declare  one.  Its  800  delegates  came,  all  with  honest 
views,  but  some  shaded  with  local  coloring,  to  get  a clear 
view,  and  to  do  the  best  for  the  party  and  country. 

The  Convention  passed  through  several  steps  or  stages 
on  its  way  to  a clear  view  of  the  situation.  The  Blaine  in- 
fluence was  divided.  His  true  friends  soon  convinced  them- 
selves that  it  would  not  do  to  nominate  him  against  his  will. 
His  false  friends  wanted  to  nominate  him  at  any  cost.  Their 
differences  were  compromised  by  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
it  would  be  fatal  to  nominate  him  till  the  other  candidates 
whom  his  letters  had  invited  into  the  field  were  ready  to 
unite  in  asking  him  to  take  the  nomination.  This  fact  never 
came,  and  never  could  have  come,  for  with  so  much  and 
such  elegant  material  in  the  field,  a wise  choice  was  always 
a possibility. 

The  second  stage  was  partly  geographic  and  partly  po- 
litical. It  involved  the  doubtful  States,  and  especially  New 
York,  which,  if  not  the  most  doubtful,  was  at  least  the  most 
important.  The  geographic  feature  soon  settled  itself.  The 
wisdom  of  placing  the  candidates  so  that  the  debatable 
fields  of  New  York  and  Indiana  should  be  occupied,  very 
soon  impressed  the  Convention.  This  not  only  involved 
deference  to  the  wishes  of  those  States,  but  a feeling  that 
their  choice  would  amount  to  a pledge  of  success.  Mr. 
Depew  was  settled  upon  by  the  New  York  delegation  as 
one  likely  to  carry  his  own  State.  But  he  very  prudently 
looked  over  the  ground  and  found  that  he  might  endanger 
other  States.  He  withdrew  after  the  third  ballot,  and  when 
his  State  had  made  up  its  mind  to  stand  for  General  Benja- 
min Harrison,  who  not  only  represented  another  doubtful 
State,  but  who  was  deemed  the  best  candidate  for  New 

30 


442 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


York,  the  other  doubtful  States  and  all  the  sure  States.  The 
three  ballots  on  June  22  were  all  field  ballots.  The  two 
ballots  of  June  23  were  under  the  changed  situation.  They 
brought  no  very  material  increase  of  strength  to  the  other 
nominees  before  the  Convention,  but  showed  its  drift  toward 
Harrison,  and  really  foreshadowed  his  nomination,  as  soon 
as  the  silent  strength,  which  was  still  hoping  for  a chance 
to  nominate  Blaine,  should  feel  the  hopelessness  of  its  en- 
deavors. This  it  was  forced  to  feel  on  June  25,  when  a 
telegram  from  Mr.  Blaine  was  read  asking  his  friends  to 
respect  his  previous  letters.  Sunshine  broke  upon  the  Con- 
vention at  once.  The  three  ballots  of  the  25th  were  easy 
ones.  Every  doubtful  State  whirled  into  the  Harrison  line. 
After  five  days  of  discussion  and  voting — eliminating  all 
the  other  candidates  and  having  established  the  correct 
principles  of  choice,  the  Convention  chose  General  Harrison 
with  surprising  unanimity,  on  the  eighth  ballot,  his  vote 
being  544,  as  against  1 1 8 for  Sherman;  59  for  Gresham; 
100  for  Alger;  5 for  Blaine  and  4 for  McKinley.  They 
wanted  a doubtful  State ; Harrison  lived  in  Indiana.  They 
wanted  a Western  candidate ; Harrison  was  in  the  West, 
and  not  far  enough  from  the  East  to  be  out  of  knowledge 
and  sympathy  with  Eastern  thought.  Harrison  lived  near 
the  centre  of  population  and  was  almost  a composite  photo- 
graph of  the  nation’s  want.  He  was  neither  granger  nor 
anti-granger.  He  had  good  running  qualities  of  another 
kind.  He  had  a home  and  cherished  it.  He  had  all  the 
homely  qualities  which  are  the  best  gift  to  an  American  who 
seeks  for  office  by  the  popular  vote.  He  had  a good  record. 
He  had  an  ancestry,  but  did  not  depend  upon  it.  These 
were  the  reasons  which  led  the  Convention,  after  six  days 
honest  and  conscientious  examination,  to  nominate  him.  It 
was  the  best  possible  outcome.  He  was  the  one  candidate 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


443 


whom  many  of  the  shrewdest  leaders  had  months  before 
fixed  upon  as  the  most  available  and  easiest  to  elect.  As  to 
the  party,  he  was  the  one  happy  issue  out  of  all  its  troubles, 
and  this  the  Convention  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  out. 

Never  in  the  history  of  political  parties  was  a nomination 
for  the  Presidency  received  with  fuller  accord  and  more 
heartfelt  acclaim  than  that  of  General  Harrison  by  the 
Republican  party.  Its  fitness,  not  only  as  to  the  man  but  to 
the  entire  political  situation,  was  apparent  to  all  the  moment 
the  choice  of  the  Convention  was  announced.  The  country 
took  it  up  with  cheers,  demonstrations,  speeches,  spectacular 
displays,  quaint  devices  and  mottoes,  that  reminded  older 
voters  of  the  enthusiasm  which  was  awakened  by  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  “ Hero  of  Tippecanoe  ” in  1840,  and  charmed 
younger  voters  with  their  originality  and  appropriateness. 
Factional  differences,  which  had  sundered  the  party  in  cer- 
tain sections  and  States,  were  instantly  healed,  and  the  re- 
solve became  common  to  make  the  name  of  Harrison  a 
shibboleth  and  sign  of  victory.  As  a set  off  to  the  “ red  ban- 
dana,” whose  use  by  Mr.  Thurman  had  caused  its  acceptance 
as  a Democratic  guidon,  the  American  flag,  of  handkerchief 
size,  appeared  in  all  the  shop  windows,  and  the  populace 
bought  them  by  the  tens  of  thousands.  Thus  armed,  they 
good  naturedly  met  the  flaunts  of  the  “ red  bandana  ” by  a 
wave  of  their  colors,  and  the  facetious  remark,  “ This  is 
a good  enough  flag  for  me.” 

The  press,  without  respect  to  party,  was  singularly  unani- 
mous in  its  favorable  expressions,  and  this  applied  to  both 
candidates  on  the  Republican  ticket.  There  was  no  dispo- 
sition, even  among  the  bitterest  partisan  sheets,  to  be  other 
than  respectful  to  the  name  and  character  of  the  nominees. 

The  scene  in  Indianapolis,  after  the  nomination  of  Gen- 
eral Harrison  was  announced,  was  tumultuously  joyous. 


444 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


Throats  could  not  cheer  enough,  nor  could  men,  women, 
boys  and  girls  find  words  adequate  to  the  expression  of 
their  feelings.  Throngs  of  happy  visitors  poured  in  upon 
him  to  tender  congratulations,  and  amid  all  the  crush  and 
excitement  he  maintained  a modest  reserve  and  mental  poise 
which  showed  his  complete  mastery  of  self.  His  impromptu 
responses  to  the  various  visitors — committees,  clubs  and 
unorganized  crowds — were  singularly  apropos  in  thought 
and  felicitous  in  expression.  They  were  watched  intently 
by  Republicans  all  over  the  country,  and  Democratic  ears 
were  on  the  alert  for  something  inadvertent,  but  his  every 
utterance  was  in  keeping  with  the  situation  which  drew  it 
forth.  He  was  ready,  never  effusive  nor  self-adulatory,  al- 
ways guarded  and  to  the  point,  said  the  right  thing  in  the 
right  spirit,  and  left  the  happiest  of  impressions.  We  regard 
these  after-nomination  speeches  of  General  Harrison  as 
models  in  their  way,  and  impossible  except  with  a man  of 
wide  information,  abundant  self-control  and  the  fullest  ap- 
preciation of  the  most  delicate  situations. 

July  4,  1888,  was  fixed  as  an  appropriate  day  on  which  to 
notify  General  Harrison  officially  of  the  high  honor  con- 
ferred by  the  Chicago  Convention.  Accordingly  the  com- 
mittee appointed  for  this  purpose,  at  whose  head  was  Mr. 
Estee,  Chairman  of  the  Convention,  called  at  the  General’s 
residence  on  the  above  date,  and  extended  to  him  a formal 
notification.  With  a seriousness  and  earnestness  which  fully 
showed  the  depth  of  his  feelings  and  the  gravity  of  the 
situation,  the  General  made  the  following  reply : 

“ Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  committee : The 
official  notice  which  you  have  brought  of  the  nomination 
conferred  upon  me  by  the  Republican  National  Convention 
recently  in  session  at  Chicago,  excites  emotion  of  a pro- 
found, though  of  a somewhat  conflicting  character.  That, 


m .. 


Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Tracy. 

Born  at  Owego,  N.  Y.,  April  26, 1830;  educated  at  Owego  Academy; 
admitted  to  bar,  May,  1851 ; elected  District  Attorney  of  Tioga  co.,  1853, 
on  Whig  ticket ; re-elected,  1856 ; elected  to  Assembly  by  Republicans 
and  War  Democrats,  1861 ; Recruited  109th  and  137th  N.  Y.  Regiments 
in  1862;  became  Colonel  of  the  109th;  wounded  in  battle  of  Wilder- 
ness ; assigned  to  command  of  Military  Post  at  Elmira  ; brevetted  Briga- 
dier-General, March  13, 1865  ; resumed  practice  of  law  in  New  York  city ; 
appointed  District  Attorney  for  Eastern  District,  N.  Y.,  October,  1866 ; 
resumed  law  practice  in  Brooklyn ; became  distinguished  as  an  advo- 
cate; chosen  Secretary  of  Navy  by  President  Harrison,  March  5,  1889; 
able  and  advanced  official  and  ardent  advocate  of  a new  navy. 

(446) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


447 


after  full  deliberation  and  free  consultation,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Republican  party  of  the  United  States  should 
have  concluded  that  the  great  principles  enunciated  in  the 
platform  adopted  by  the  Convention  could  be  in  some 
measure  confided  to  my  care,  is  an  honor  of  which  I am 
deeply  sensible  and  for  which  I am  very  grateful.  I do  not 
assume  or  believe  that  this  choice  implies  that  the  Conven- 
tion found  in  me  pre-eminent  fitness  or  exceptional  fidelity 
to  the  principles  of  government  to  which  we  are  mutually 
pledged.  My  satisfaction  with  the  result  would  be  alto- 
gether spoiled  if  that  result  had  been  reached  by  any  un- 
worthy methods  or  by  a disparagement  of  the  more  eminent 
men  who  divided  with  me  the  suffrages  of  the  Convention. 
I accept  the  nomination  with  so  deep  a sense  of  the  dignity 
of  the  office,  and  the  gravity  of  its  duty  and  responsibility, 
as  altogether  to  exclude  any  feeling  of  exultation  or  pride. 

“ The  principles  of  government  and  the  practice  in  admin- 
istration, upon  which  issues  are  now  fortunately  clearly 
made,  are  so  important  in  their  relations  to  the  national  and 
to  individual  prosperity  that  we  may  expect  an  unusual 
popular  interest  in  the  campaign.  Relying  wholly  upon 
the  considerate  judgment  of  our  fellow-citizens  and  the 
gracious  favor  of  God  we  will  confidently  submit  our  cause 
to  the  arbitrament  of  a free  ballot. 

“The  day  you  have  chosen  for  this  visit  suggests  no 
thoughts  that  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  occasion.  The 
Republican  party  has  walked  in  the  light  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  It  has  lifted  the  shaft  of  patriotism  upon 
the  foundation  laid  at  Bunker  Hill.  It  has  made  the  more 
perfect  union  secure  by  making  all  men  free.  Washington 
and  Lincoln,  Yorktown  and  Appomattox,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  are 
naturally  and  worthily  associated  in  our  thoughts  to-day. 


448 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


“ It  gives  me  pleasure,  gentlemen,  to  receive  you  in  my 
home  and  to  thank  you  for  the  cordial  manner  in  which 
you  have  conveyed  your  official  message.” 

The  timely  and  acceptable  nomination  of  Harrison  in 
1888  was  backed  by  a powerful  platform  of  principles,  af- 
firming in  unmistakable  language  the  cardinal  doctrines  of 
the  party,  especially  those  relating  to  a free  and  untram- 
melled ballot,  protective  duties,  schools,  pensions,  civil  ser- 
vice, commercial  interests  and  foreign  relations.  The  plat- 
form and  the  candidate  gave  to  the  party  a full  affirmative 
position  in  the  campaign.  Mr.  Cleveland’s  startling  free- 
trade  message  of  the  previous  year  was  readily  accepted  as 
a gage  of  battle,  followed  as  it  was  by  his  renomination. 

The  campaign  was  one  largely  of  discussion  and  entirely 
free  from  the  bitter  and  offensive  personalism  which  had 
disgraced  that  of  1884.  Perhaps  never  in  our  political  his- 
tory was  the  issue  of  “ Protection  vs.  Free-Trade  ” so  sharply 
defined  nor  so  dispassionately  handled.  It  was  recognized 
at  a very  early  day  that  the  fighting  ground  embraced  the 
four  doubtful  States  of  the  North,  to  wit,  New  York,  In- 
diana, Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  though  the  Democrats 
laid  claim  to  one  or  more  of  the  Northwestern  States.  Both 
the  leading  parties  labored  strenuously  to  convince  the  pub- 
lic mind  of  the  correctness  of  their  economic  views,  and 
speech-making,  mammoth  parades  and  spectacular  argu- 
ments became  the  order  of  the  day.  The  early  autumn 
elections,  as  those  of  Oregon,  Vermont  and  Maine,  showed 
that  the  trend  of  sentiment  was  toward  the  Republican  party, 
and  in  the  end  that  party  carried  New  York  and  Indiana, 
together  with  all  the  States  it  had  carried  in  1884,  thus 
securing  233  electoral  votes  out  of  the  total  of  401,  or  31 
more  than  was  necessary  to  elect  its  candidate. 

Features  of  the  campaign  were  the  confidence  manifested 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


449 


by  both  parties  up  till  the  day  of  the  election,  and  the  dis- 
missal of  the  English  Minister  at  Washington,  Lord  Sack- 
ville  West,  for  having  written  a letter  to  one  of  his  country- 
men, naturalized  in  the  United  States,  which  gave  offence 
because  it  was  construed  as  an  unwarranted  interference 
with  our  political  affairs.  The  result  of  the  election  was  so 
decisive  as  to  be  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  by  the  Democratic 
party.  The  Northwestern  States  had  not  swung  from  their 
Republican  allegiance,  as  was  expected  by  the  Democracy, 
and  the  border  States  showed  a decided  drift  toward  the 
Republican  idea,  the  issue  in  one  of  them,  West  Virginia, 
being  in  doubt  for  weeks  after  the  election.  The  Congres- 
sional elections  were  also  favorable  to  the  Republicans,  the 
Democratic  majority  of  fifteen  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress  being 
turned  into  a Republican  majority  of  from  5 to  10,  depend- 
ent on  the  result  of  several  contests,  mostly  in  districts  in 
tht  Southern  States. 


VIII. 


HARRISON’S  ADMINISTRATION. 

March  4,  1889 — March  4,  1893. 

FIFTY-FIRST  AND  FIFTY-SECOND  CONGRESSES. 

The  political  revolution  which  had  swept  the  Republican 
party  out  of  power  in  1884  ran  its  course  in  four  years,  and 
was  followed,  in  1888,  by  a counter-revolution  which  proved 
even  more  disastrous  to  the  Democratic  party.  The  Re- 
publicans had  profited  by  the  discipline  of  defeat ; the  Dem- 
ocrats had  failed  to  convert  the  prestige  of  a first  into  a 
second  victory.  The  Cleveland  administration,  strong  in 
some  respects,  had  proven  weak  in  its  failure  to  cope  with 
the  questions  that  fell  to  it  as  legacies,  in  the  vagueness  of 
its  foreign  policy  and,  particularly,  in  its  assumption  of  the 
doctrine  of  free-trade. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  Harrison  to  unite  the  factions 
of  his  party  and  to  stand  forward  as  a trusted  and  command- 
ing exponent  of  its  wishes  respecting  the  vital  issues  of  the 
campaign.  He,  therefore,  came  into  office  under  excellent 
auspices.  The  campaign  had  been  squarely,  masterfully 
fought  on  the  basis  of  living  ideas  and  principles.  Partisan- 
ship had  been  at  low  ebb,  and  the  bitterness  of  recrimination 
had  not  marred  argument  or  inflamed  passions.  He  had 
the  confidence  inspired  by  ability,  sound  sense,  patriotic  in- 
stinct and  conservative  purpose.  The  national  verdict  had 
been  emphatic  in  his  favor.  He  was  free  from  the  compli- 
cation of  pre-election  pledges,  and  fully  abreast  of  his  party, 
even  though  it  should  choose  to  signalize  its  triumph  by 
(45o) 


THE  n^ijy 


3 


Hon.  John  W.  Noble. 

Born  in  Lancaster,  Ohio,  October  26,  1831 ; graduated  at  Yale,  1851; 
studied  law  and  admitted  to  St.  Louis  bar  in  1855 ; moved  to  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  1856 ; acquired  a large  practice ; entered  Union  army  as  1st 
Lieutenant  Co.  C.,  3d  Iowa  Cavalry;  participated  in  compaigns  which 
led  to  fall  of  Vicksburg;  Judge-Advocate-General  of  Army  of  South- 
west, 1862-63;  brevetted  Brigadier-General;  served  throughout  the 
war;  resumed  practice  at  St.  Louis;  appointed  U.  S.  District  Attorney 
for  Eastern  Missouri,  1867 ; tendered  position  of  Solicitor-General  by 
Grant,  but  declined ; continued  practice ; appointed  Secretary  of  Interior 
by  President  Harrison,  March  5,1889;  an  able  official,  and  conscientious 
statesman. 


— 


Hon.  John  Wanamaker. 

Born  in  Philadelphia,  July  11,1838;  educated  at  Landreth public  school; 
entered  mercantile  business,  1861 ; helped  to  organize  Christian  Commis-i 
sion,  which  dispensed  supplies  to  soldiers  during  the  war ; chairman  of 
Irish  Famine,  Yellow  Fever  and  other  public  committees;  member  of 
Board  of  Finance,  and  chairman  of  Bureau  of  Revenue  of  Centennial 
Exposition;  declined  Republican  nomination  for  Congressman-at-large 
in  1882 ; also  nomination  for  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  in  1886 ; Republi- 
can elector  in  1888;  chairman  of  Republican  Advisory  Committee  in 
1888 ; appointed  Postmaster-General  by  President  Harrison,  March  5, 
1889 ; distinguished  for  energy,  and  organizing  and  disciplinary  talent. 

1453) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


455 


new  departures.  But  there  was  no  immediate  need  of  these, 
especially  at  first,  for  the  transit  from  a Democratic  to  a 
Republican  administration  meant,  for  every  practical  pur- 
pose, a taking  up  of  the  political  thread  which  had  been 
broken  in  1884,  and  a resumption  of  the  party  traditions 
which  had  been  shelved  during  a minority  period. 

President  Harrison  evinced  his  ability  to  govern  wisely 
by  the  selection  of  his  cabinet.  While  it  was  chosen  with 
due  respect  to  location,  the  choice  showed  tactful  deference 
to  party  leadership,  and  a wholesome  wish  to  avoid  local 
jealousies.  Fitness,  however,  was  a prime  object.  He 
sought  a working,  as  well  as  an  advisory  body,  and  the  pop- 
ular judgment  was  that  he  found  it.  As  first  chosen,  it  was 
composed  as  follows  : — 

Secretary  of  State James  G.  Blaine,  Me; 

Secretary  of  Treasury William  Windom,  Minn. 

Secretary  of  War Redfield  Proctor,  Vt. 

Secretary  of  Navy Benj.  F.  Tracy,  N.  Y. 

Secretary  of  Interior John  W.  Noble,  Mo. 

Atty. -General W.  H.  H.  Miller,  Ind. 

Postmaster-General John  Wanamaker,  Pa. 

Secretary  of  Agriculture Jeremiah  Rusk,  Wis. 

President  Harrison’s  inaugural  was  looked  for  with  great 
interest.  It  proved  to  be  a plain,  practical,  pointed  paper  of 
4,300  words,  which  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  be- 
ginning of  this  twenty-sixth  administration  was  a step  over 
the  threshold  into  the  second  century  of  our  national  exist- 
ence under  the  constitution;  to  the  growth  o.  the  protective 
policy,  its  vindication  in  practice  and  at  the  polls,  and  the 
necessity  for  its  continuance ; to  the  propriety  of  laying  aside 
race  prejudices  and  conceding  equal  rights  to  all;  to  the 
evils  of  monopoly ; to  the  necessity  for  discriminating  against 
the  immigration  of  foreign  paupers ; to  the  maintenance  of 


45& 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


the  “ Monroe  Doctrine,”  especially  in  view  of  the  Samoan 
troubles  and  the  danger  of  foreign  governments  coming  to 
the  aid  of  the  Panama  Canal  scheme ; to  a civil  service 
which  should  fulfil  the  law  and  at  the  same  time  not  shield 
official  negligence  or  incompetency ; to  a graduation  of 
duties  and  taxes  so  as  to  limit  revenue  to  public  needs ; to 
the  necessity  for  a stronger  navy,  for  the  encouragement  of 
commerce,  for  revised  pension  laws,  and  for  laws  which 
would  insure  a free  and  pure  ballot. 

It  was  regarded  as  an  exceedingly  thoughtful  and  strong 
State  paper,  and  was  accepted  by  his  party  as  a definite  and 
satisfactory  outline  of  what  it  had  a right  to  expect  of  its 
chief  representative.  The  Senate,  in  extra  session,  confirmed 
his  selection  of  a Cabinet.  Thus  opened  the  Harrison  Ad- 
ministration, whose  mission  was  to  apply  and  perpetuate  the 
ideas  that  had  prevailed  at  the  national  election,  and  shape 
public  affairs  on  the  lines  indicated  by  the  constitutional 
majority.  In  that  mission  there  was  to  be  no  failure,  for  no 
one  understood  it  better,  nor  had  any  statesman  ever  more 
ability  and  resolution  to  fulfil  it. 

THE  SAMOAN  AFFAIR. 

This  matter  came  as  a legacy  from  the  Cleveland  Adminis- 
tration, whose  foreign  policy  had  proved  so  weak  and  vacillat- 
ing as  to  encourage  foreign  encroachments.  The  little  island, 
or  group  of  islands,  over  which  King  Malietoa  presided,  lay  in 
the  Pacific  ocean,  and  near  the  line  of  traffic  between  our 
shores  and  those  of  China  and  Japan.  Germans,  English 
and  Americans  traded  there,  and  used  them  as  coaling  sta- 
tions and  harbors  of  refuge.  Many  of  these,  mostly  Ger- 
mans, had  settled  there  and  engaged  in  planting  and  mer- 
chandise. The  strategic  value  of  the  islands  was  very  great. 
The  German  element,  with  the  sanction  of  Germany,  deposed 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


457 


Malietoa,  and  placed  a rival  in  power  whom  they  could  com- 
mand. This  act,  equivalent  to  annexation  to  Germany,  had 
the  sanction  of  England.  King  Malietoa  appealed  to  the 
United  States.  In  accordance  with  the  “ Monroe  Doctrine/’ 
President  Harrison  acted  very  promptly,  restored  the  de- 
posed king,  and  saved  the  absorption  of  the  islands  by 
foreign  powers.  For  this,  he  received  the  approval  of  all 
parties  at  home,  nor  was  there  any  diplomacy  abroad  that 
dared  to  insist  further  on  the  right  to  commit  so  brazen  a 
theft,  and  one  destined  to  work  us  great  commercial  injury. 

In  his  message  to  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty-first 
Congress  President  Harrison  thus  speaks  of  the  adjustment 
of  the  Samoan  trouble : “ The  Samoan  treaty,  signed  last 
year  (1889)  at  Berlin,  by  the  United  States,  Germany  and 
Great  Britain,  has  begun  to  produce  salutary  effects.  The 
formation  of  the  new  government  agreed  upon  will  soon  re- 
place the  disorder  of  the  past  by  a stable  administration. 
Malietoa  is  respected  as  King.” 

THE  BEHRING  SEA  QUESTION. 

This,  too,  came  as  a legacy  to  Harrison’s  administration. 
The  Cleveland  administration  tried  to  settle  it  by  arresting 
poaching  seal  ships,  but  this  only  complicated  matters  by 
law  suits  and  threats  of  reprisal. 

The  history  of  the  case  dates  back  to  1799,  when  Russia 
granted  to  the  Russian-American  Company  the  exclusive 
right  to  catch  seal  and  discover  new  lands  from  Behring 
Strait  down  to  latitude  550.  In  1821  Russia  published  a 
ukase  extending  her  jurisdiction  down  to  510  and  prohibit- 
ing all  foreign  vessels  from  coming  within  100  miles  of  her 
coasts  and  islands.  England  and  the  United  States  pro- 
tested. The  result  was  treaties  with  both  countries,  in  1825, 
permitting  navigation  and  fishing  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The 


458 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


English  treaty  was  slightly  different  in  its  wording  from  the 
American,  and  Lord  Salisbury  at  a very  late  date  took  the 
ground  that  the  Behring  Sea  was  not  recognized  as  a sep- 
arate body  of  water  by  the  treaty.  The  American  position 
was  that  it  was  so  recognized. 

The  sale  of  Alaska  to  the  United  States,  by  Russia,  in 
1867,  put  an  end  to  the  rights  of  the  Russian- American 
Company,  or  rather  merged  them  in  the  United  States. 
Those  rights  had  been  fully  respected  by  England  during  the 
existence  of  the  company,  to  wit,  for  a period  of  sixty-eight 
years,  forty-two  of  which  years  were  after  the  treaty  of  1825, 
and  it  was  well  recognized  that  the  100  mile  limit  was  for 
the  protection  of  fur-bearing  animals. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  sale  of  Alaska  to  the  United  States 
made  than  Canadian  poachers  began  their  raids  on  seals  in 
the  waters  of  Behring  Sea.  So  inhuman  and  greedy  did 
they  prove  that  they  robbed  our  licensed  sealing  vessels  of 
their  annual  profits  and  threatened  the  extinction  of  the 
animals.  Against  these  encroachments  and  this  robbery 
the  United  States  objected.  This  is  the  form  in  which  the 
question  struck  the  Harrison  administration.  It  was  seen 
to  be  a delicate  question  and  one  far-reaching  in  its  results. 
Title  to  water  and  to  rights  in  a sea  which  may  be  either 
open  or  shut  as  suits  the  parties  most  interested,  was  some- 
thing which  could  not  be  settled  in  a day,  nor  by  any  courts 
except  those  created  upon  an  international  basis.  Hence, 
arbitration  was  proposed.  Pending  negotiations  looking  to 
an  arbitration  treaty  and  final  submission,  a modus  vivendi 
was  agreed  upon  for  the  year  1891,  by  which  both  England 
and  the  United  States  agreed  to  prevent  seal  poaching. 
The  treaty  of  arbitration  not  having  been  concluded,  the 
United  States  wished  to  revive  the  modus  vivendi  for  1892. 
To  this  Lord  Salisbury  objected,  and  the  result  was  that 


Hon.  J.  M.  Rusk. 

Born  in  Morgan  co.,  Ohio,  June,  1830 ; reared  on  farm ; moved  to 
Wisconsin,  1853 ; engaged  in  farming  near  Vernon ; elected  Sheriff, 
1855  ; elected  Coroner,  1857,  and  to  Legislature,  1861 ; enlisted  in 
25th  Wisconsin  Volunteers,  1862;  chosen  Major,  same  year,  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel in  1863;  with  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  and  Sherman  at  At- 
lanta and  to  the  sea;  elected  Bank  Comptroller  of  Wisconsin  on  Repub- 
lican ticket  by  10,000  majority  in  1865  ; elected  to  Congress  from  6th 
Wisconsin  District  in  1870  ; re-elected  to  43d  and  44th  Congresses ; rose 
to  distinction  as  debater  and  worker ; elected  Governor  of  Wisconsin, 
1881,  and  twice  re-elected  ; selected  by  President  Harrison  as  Secretary 
of  Agriculture,  March  5,  1889  ; an  earnest,  able  official  and  a credit  to 
the  Administration  and  nation. 


(459) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


461 


negotiations  were  endangered.  But  by  tactful  handling  of 
the  matter,  a treaty  of  submission  was  finally  agreed  upon, 
and  the  whole  matter  will  be  finally  settled  by  a board  of 
international  arbitrators,  to  assemble  in  Paris  during  the  fall 
of  1892.  Considering  the  intricacy  and  importance  of  this 
question,  not  to  mention  the  dangers  involved,  the  disposi- 
tion of  it  in  the  way  proposed,  is  one  of  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  Harrison’s  administration. 

THE  ITALIAN  QUESTION. 

The  massacre  of  Italians  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  by 
a mob  of  citizens,  filled  the  country  with  horror  and  gave 
occasion  for  a demand  for  reparation  on  the  part  of  Italy, 
which  amounted  almost  to  a threat  of  war.  The  matter 
assumed  serious  aspect  for  a considerable  time,  and  it  was 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  Italy  could  be  made  to  under- 
stand that  the  laws  controlling  such  cases  were  State  and 
not  national  laws.  However,  the  administration  was  not 
slow  in  calling  the  attention  of  Congress  to  this  defect  in  our 
system,  and  in  asking  that  the  National  government  enact 
laws  for  the  punishment  of  such  crimes  as  breaches  of 
treaties.  Italy  withdrew  her  minister  and  for  a time  diplo- 
matic relations  were  severed.  By  exercise  of  patience  and 
quiet  firmness  on  the  part  of  the  administration,  Italy  came 
to  see  that  the  United  States  could  not  be  coerced.  She 
finally  yielded  her  demand,  agreed  to  restore  former  relations, 
and  was  met  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  by  payment 
of  a small  and  complimentary  indemnity  of  $25,000,  under 
a precedent  established  in  the  case  of  the  Spanish  sufferers 
in  New  Orleans  in  1853,  which  indemnity  was  to  be  con- 
strued as  no  recognition  of  any  right  on  the  part  of  Italy, 
but  merely  as  an  expression  of  friendly  feeling  on  the  part 


462  BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 

of  the  United  States  and  of  regret  at  the  horrible  occur- 
rence. 

THE  CHILIAN  IMBROGLIO. 

In  January,  1891,  civil  war  broke  out  in  Chili  between  the 
forces  of  President  Balmaceda  and  the  Congressional  or  In- 
surgent forces.  During  this  war,  an  insurgent  vessel,  the 
Itata , which  had  taken  a load  of  arms  on  board  at  San 
Diego,  Cal.,  was  seized  by  the  United  States  Marshal  for 
violation  of  the  neutrality  laws.  The  vessel  put  to  sea  with 
the  Marshal  on  board  and  made  her  escape  after  landing 
the  Marshal  at  a remote  point.  The  offending  vessel 
was  pursued,  captured  and  returned  to  San  Diego  for  adju- 
dication of  her  case. 

This  action  was  construed  by  the  Insurgents,  who  after- 
wards drove  the  forces  of  Balmaceda  to  the  wall  and  came 
into  full  possession  of  his  government,  as  an  exhibition  of 
hostility  to  their  cause  by  the  United  States.  They,  there- 
fore, without  hearing,  began  to  exhibit  intense  animosity 
toward  our  government  and  toward  all  our  people,  especially 
those  who  represented  us  officially  in  the  Chilian  State  or 
waters.  This  animosity  pervaded  the  masses  in  Chili,  as 
well  as  her  officials.  It  was  inflamed  by  the  British  and 
German  traders  and  adventurers  in  Chili,  and  their  news- 
papers in  Europe  took  up  the  Chilian  cause  and  made  it 
almost  their  own.  They  were  especially  severe  on  our 
Minister  to  Chili,  Mr.  Egan,  because  he  permitted  the 
American  legation  to  give  right  of  asylum  to  political 
refugees  in  Santiago — a right  never  before  denied  by  civil- 
ized nations  and  even  then  practiced  by  the  English  and 
German  legations. 

On  October  16,  1891,  this  animosity  became  so  intense 
that  a Chilian  mob,  encouraged,  if  not  directly  aided,  by  the 
police  and  soldiers  in  Valparaiso,  attacked  the  sailors  of  the 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


463 


United  States  cruiser  Baltimore  in  the  streets,  killed  a petty 
officer  outright  and  wounded  nine  seamen,  one  of  whom 
afterwards  died.  The  news  of  this  bloody  and  unprovoked 
assault  sent  a thrill  of  indignation  across  our  land,  and  it 
was  felt  to  be  such  an  insult  to  our  flag  as  only  war  could 
wipe  out.  The  administration  sent  a prompt  inquiry  into 
the  motive  and  asked  for  suitable  apology.  The  tone  of  the 
reply  was  impudent  and  it  greatly  intensified  the  feeling 
against  Chili.  President  Harrison  immediately  began  to  put 
the  navy  in  preparation  for  an  offensive  demonstration,  de- 
termined no  longer  to  brook  delays  nor  further  compromise 
situations.  Seeing  that  he  was  determined  to  seek  repara- 
tion by  force  and  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  American 
flag  at  all  hazards,  reason  began  to  dawn  in  the  Chilian 
mind,  and  action  was  promised  after  judicial  inquiry  had 
been  instituted  and  a report  had. 

At  this  juncture,  November  14th,  the  new  President  of 
Chili  sent  Don  Pedro  Montt  as  Minister  to  Washington. 
He  announced  that  he  came  to  “ cultivate  and  maintain  the 
relations  of  peace  and  friendship  between  Chili  and  the 
United  States.”  President  Harrison’s  response  to  him  was 
looked  for  by  the  whole  country  with  intense  interest,  for 
never  had  foreign  minister  been  accredited  and  received 
under  precisely  similar  auspices.  The  response  was  most 
able  and  filled  the  country  with  delight.  It  showed  how 
there  could  be  no  feeling  in  this  country  except  that  of  good 
will  for  a sister  American  Republic,  how  there  was  no  de- 
sire to  intermeddle  in  her  internal  affairs,  how  the  Itata 
affair  and  all  others  representing  acts  on  the  United  States 
had  been  in  accord  with  a desire  to  observe  the  neutrality 
laws  and  avoid  the  intervention  from  which  this  country 
had  suffered  so  much  during  her  civil  war.  It  closed  with 
the  hope  that  the  sway  of  passion  would  soon  end  and  that 


464  BENJAMIN  GARRISON. 

speedy,  peaceful  and  honorable  adjustment  of  all  differences 
might  be  had. 

There  was  no  threat  of  war,  no  bluster  it?  the  response. 
It  was  dignified,  pointed,  tactful,  but  so  firm,  as  that  the 
new  minister  could  not  but  be  impressed  with  its  depth  and 
solemnity.  In  his  message  to  Congress,  December  9,  1891, 
President  Harrison  reviewed  the  Chilian  question  with  great 
fullness  and  seriousness  to  date,  and  promised  to  make  it 
the  subject  of  a special  message,  if  the  judicial  investigation 
then  going  on  proved  disappointing  in  its  results,  or  if  fur- 
ther needless  delay  intervened. 

This  promised  special  message  came  on  January  25, 1892. 
Its  cause  was  the  receipt  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  the 
Chilian  Fiscal  General , or  Board  of  Crimes  inquiry.  These 
conclusions  were  unsatisfactory  to  President  Harrison,  in 
that  they  did  not  show  that  our  sailors  had  not  been  as- 
saulted, beaten,  stabbed  and  killed  for  what  they  had  done, 
but  rather  showed  that  such  assaulting  and  killing  was  for 
what  the  “ Government  of  the  United  States  had  done,  or  was 
charged  with  having  done,  by  its  civil  officers  and  naval 
commanders.”  In  this  message  President  Harrison  reviewed 
the  whole  situation  in  a masterly  manner,  submitted  all  the 
correspondence,  and  asked  Congress  to  take  appropriate  ac- 
tion. 

It  was  well  known  what  this  message  meant  It  was  a 
turning  over  of  the  question  to  the  nation,  stamped  with  the 
ultimatum  of  the  Administration.  No  message,  certainly 
none  of  modern  times,  so  quickly  received  the  approval  of 
the  country,  or  so  deeply  touched  the  patriotic  pride  of  our 
people.  As  a declaration  of  American  policy  it  took  rank 
with  that  of  James  Monroe,  in  which  was  first  promulgated 
the  “ Monroe  Doctrine.”  A powerful  and  generous  people 
accepted  it  with  the  greatest  unanimity,  as  their  own  procla- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


465 


mation  to  the  world  of  a determination  to  assert  their  na- 
tional rights  and  maintain  their  national  dignity,  without  any 
disposition  to  despoil  or  humiliate  weak,  erring  and  over- 
confident neighbor. 

Such  was  the  firmness  of  the  President’s  position,  such  the 
nature  of  the  step,  such  the  imposing  character  of  the  na- 
tion’s response,  that  a result  came  which  might  not  have 
been  reached  by  the  arts  of  strict  diplomacy  for  long,  long 
years.  Three  days  after  the  submission  of  the  President’s 
message  to  Congress,  he  was  enabled  to  submit  the  an- 
nouncement to  Congress  and  to  the  country,  that  Chili  had 
extended  all  necessary  apologies  for  her  conduct,  had  agreed 
to  see  that  reparation  for  injuries  was  made,  and  had  satis- 
factorily complied  with  all  our  demands.  Thus  war  was 
averted  by  the  tact  and  firmness  of  President  Harrison,  one 
of  the  most  dangerous  questions  of  his  administration 
quickly  and  securely  settled,  and  the  national  honor  fully 
vindicated. 


PROTECTION  AND  RECIPROCITY. 

The  Fifty-first  Congress  was  Republican,  but  with  a slim 
working  majority.  With  a weak  and  vacillating  President, 
without  one  who  was  not  popular,  strong,  determined,  and 
who  had  not  the  full  confidence  of  his  party  and  country, 
there  would  have  been  little  hope  with  so  small  a majority 
in  Congress,  of  effecting  legislation  of  so  important  a kind 
as  that  to  which  the  Republican  party  stood  pledged.  But 
with  such  a man  as  President  Harrison  to  inspire,  suggest 
and  lead,  the  Republican  majority  proved  industrious,  united 
and  effective.  No  Congress  ever  legislated  on  a higher 
plane,  nor  passed  upon  so  many  measures  of  purely  national 
import;  nor  did  any  President  ever  find  so  many  of  the  great 
measures,  sanctioned  by  his  party’s  platform  and  recom- 
21 


466 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


mended  and  discussed  in  his  messages,  incorporated  in  a 
single  Congress  into  the  laws  of  the  land. 

The  Administration  stood  pledged  to  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1890,  to  the  protective  principles  it  involved,  to  the  reduc- 
tions  and  increases  it  provided,  to  the  greatly  enlarged  free 
list  it  furnished,  to  the  diminution  of  all  taxation  to  the 
lowest  consistent  point.  It  redeemed  the  pledge  of  the  party 
to  the  people  in  approving  and  making  into  law  the  McKin- 
ley Bill,  which  as  to  its  schedules  and  adjustments  is  the  best 
application  of  tariff  principles  to  our  internal  conditions  ever 
attempted  in  the  country. 

But  President  Harrison  stood  not  alone  upon  the  rock  of 
protection  as  embodied  in  the  schedules  of  the  Act.  He  saw, 
as  other  leading  statesmen  saw,  that  the  time  had  come  when 
our  surplus  products  must  find  and  make  foreign  markets 
for  themselves.  He  saw  they  were  better  and  as  cheap  as 
the  surplus  products  of  other  nations.  He  saw  the  markets 
of  40,000,000  people  south  of  us,  on  our  continent,  occupied 
by  the  nations  of  Europe,  even  though  we  were  the  best  and 
largest  buyers  in  those  very  markets.  He  saw  that  the  free 
list,  as  contemplated  in  the  McKinley  Bill,  would  cover 
nearly  everything  we  bought  in  those  markets — sugar,  cof- 
fee, hides,  molasses,  woods  and  dyes.  He  saw  that  in  most 
of  those  markets  our  chief  exports — flour,  the  cereals,  farm 
implements,  oils,  textiles — were  heavily  dutiable,  in  some 
cases  to  the  point  of  exclusion. 

Now  why  should  we  not  say  to  those  markets,  we  are 
about  to  take  the  duty  off  everything  we  get  from  you.  In 
consideration  of  this  we  ask  you  to  reciprocate,  not  by  tak- 
ing the  duty  off  what  we  send  you,  but  by  adjusting  it  so 
that  we  can  sell  to  you  on  favorable  terms,  so  that  when  we 
go  for  a cargo  of  coffee  to  your  market  we  can  take  along 
3 cargo  of  what  we  have  to  sell,  and  be  able  to  sell  it.  This 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


467 


will  encourage  us  to  buy  more  from  you,  and  in  the  end  it 
will  be  better  for  all  American  markets,  for  by  reason  of  our 
proximity  we  can  interchange  at  less  cost  for  freight,  and 
American  genius  has  proven  that  it  can  even  now  give  you 
better  and  cheaper  manufactured  products  than  you  can  get 
elsewhere.  This  cannot  endanger  our  principle  of  protec- 
tion, for  we  do  not  or  cannot  produce  most  of  what  we  want 
from  you,  and  you  do  not  or  cannot  produce  most  of  what 
you  want  from  us. 

All  of  these  things  entered  into  the  logic  of  reciprocity, 
whether  with  the  markets  of  America,  or  with  those  other 
markets  of  the  world  embracing  like  conditions.  Reci- 
procity had  heretofore  been  accomplished  between  nations 
by  long,  tedious  and  uncertain  treaties.  We  could  make 
reciprocity  by  a short  cut,  by  a clause  in  a tariff  bill,  by 
simply  saying  here  we  have  done  all,  or  more  than  all,  that 
could  have  been  done  by  any  reciprocity  treaty.  We  are 
willing  to  hear  your  terms. 

President  Harrison  did  not  hesitate  to  make  reciprocity  a 
measure  of  his  administration,  and  in  his  messages  and  other 
speeches  he  accepts  and  urges  it  as  part  of  the  grand  plan 
now  cherished  by  all  patriotic  and  far-seeing  statesmen ; by 
which  we  are  to  enter  into  full  competition  with  other 
nations  in  the  world’s  markets,  and  once  more  enjoy  the 
profits  and  glory  of  an  American  marine.  In  quite  a recent 
speech  he  spoke  of  reciprocity  as  the  dawn  of  an  era  which 
shall  once  again  restore  the  carrying  trade  of  ocean  to 
American  bottoms  and  witness  the  grand  spectacle  of  the 
stars  and  stripes  in  every  port  of  the  world.  In  this  there 
is  a sturdy  Americanism,  which  defies  the  limitations  of 
partyism,  and  it  is  woven  into  his  organization  so  effectually 
as  that  it  gives  lustre  to  all  his  speeches  and  writings.  In  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Cronemyer,  of  Demmler,  Pa.,  dated  October 


468 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


19,  1891,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a box  of  American- 
made  tin-plate,  he  said  : — “ I cannot  quite  understand  how 
an  American  can  doubt  that  we  have  the  mechanical  skill 
and  business  sagacity  to  establish  successfully  here  the 
manufacture  of  tin  plate.  ...  It  is  surprising  to  me  that 
any  patriotic  American  should  approach  this  question  with 
a desire  to  see  this  great  and  interesting  experiment  fail,  or 
with  an  unwillingness  to  accept  the  evidences  of  its  suc- 
cess. It  will  be  a great  step  in  the  direction  of  commercial 
independence,  when  we  produce  our  own  tin-plate.  . . . 

“ I can  understand  how  our  success  should  be  doubted 
and  our  failure  accepted  with  satisfaction  in  Wales,  but  I 
cannot  understand  how  any  American  can  take  that  view 
of  the  question  or  why  he  should  always  approach  every 
evidence  of  the  successful  establishment  of  this  industry  in 
this  country  with  a disposition  to  discredit  it  and  reject  it. 
If  the  great  experiment  is  to  fail,  our  own  people  should  not 
add  to  the  mortification  of  failure,  the  crime  of  rejoicing  at 
it.” 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  IN  PARAGRAPHIC  BRIEFS. 

An  administration  in  which  duty  has  been  met  honestly, 
courageously,  promptly  and  with  ability. 

An  administration  which  has  filled  the  letter  of  the  plat- 
form of  principles. 

An  administration  in  which  the  President  has  daily  grown 
and  strengthened  in  the  public  mind,  and  won  the  implicit 
faith  of  the  country. 

An  administration  which  typed  American  honor,  in  all  its 
foreign  relations. 

It  stands  for  American  industry,  the  home  wage-earner, 
domestic  manufactures,  expanded  commerce,  enlarged 
markets. 

An  administration  of  good  judgment,  liberality  and  public 


Ikiii 

OF  ISt 

mmmr  m umm 


— 


- 


Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed. 


Born  at  Portland,  Maine,  October  18,  1839 ; graduated  at  Bowdoin, 
1860;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  Assistant  Paymaster  in  Navy, 
1864-65;  member  of  State  House  of  Representatives,  1868-69,  and  of 
Senate,  1870;  Attorney  General  of  Maine,  1870-72;  Solicitor  of  Port- 
land, 1874-77 ; elected,  as  a Republican,  to  45th,  46th,  47th,  48th,  49th, 
50th  and  52d  Congresses ; elected  and  presided  as  Speaker  of  House  in 
51st  Congress;  an  able  and  efficient  parliamentarian  ; his  decision  as  to 
actual  presence  and  constructive  absence  in  counting  a quorum  was  sus- 
tained by  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court ; a writer  and  speaker  of  originality 
and  force. 

(47°) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


47  r 


spirit,  in  its  efforts  to  re-create  a navy  and  establish  coast- 
defences  commensurate  with  the  power,  dignity  and  necessi- 
ties of  a great  nation.  ' 

An  administration  whose  President  has  seen  new  markets 
opened  for  American  products  in  nearly  all  of  the  American 
Republics  to  the  south  of  us,  and  in  most  of  the  Conti- 
nental States  of  Europe.  He  has  seen,  for  the  first  time  in 
our  history,  the  exports  of  our  manufactures  of  iron  exceed 
our  imports,  and  the  triumphant  establishment  of  our  iron 
and  steel  utensils,  tools,  etc.,  in  the  best  markets  of  the 
globe.  He  has  seen  our  exports  of  beef  and  hog  products 
rise  from  $7,068,00 6 in  May,  1891,  to  $10,501,592  in  May, 
1892,  with  a kindred  increase  for  the  other  months  of  the 
fiscal  year. 

He  has  seen  our  largest  item  of  export — breadstuffs — take 


the  following  bounds : — 

Breadstuffs  exported  May,  1892 $19,410,394 

“ “ “ 1891 12,330,231 

Increase 7 ,080 , 1 63 

Breadstuffs  exported  11  Mo.  to  May  31,  1892 272,476,023 

“ “11  Mo.  “ “ “ 1891 109,956,984 

Increase $162,519,039 


For  many  years  prior  to  1888,  the  balance  of  foreign 
trade  had  been  in  our  favor.  But  during  that  year  and 
1889 — the  last  of  the  Cleveland  administration — it  turned 
largely  against  us.  It  was  turned  to  $68,000,000  in  our 
fevor  in  1890. 

Under  Harrison’s  administration  the  government’s  finances 
have  been  handled  at  all  points  with  ability  and  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction  to  the  people.  Since  1889,  $259,093,650 
of  the  national  debt  have  been  paid  off,  or  one  quarter  of  the 
entire  interest-bearing  debt  outstanding  when  he  assumed 


472 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


the  reins  of  government.  This  was  done  by  calling  in  and 
redeeming  bonds  which,  at  the  premium  upon  them,  had  a 
value  of  $296,316,931.  Still,  the  stroke  was  masterly  on 
the  part  of  the  government,  for  if  these  bonds  had  run  to 
maturity  they  would  have  cost  the  government,  principal 
and  interest,  to  redeem,  $35 1,669,424.  The  savi  g,  there- 
fore, amounted  to  $55,352,493. 

The  annual  interest  charge  was  reduced  by  these  pur- 
chases from  $34,578,219  to  $22,893,871,  or  $11,684,348 
annually,  a sum  sufficient  to  pay  one-half  of  the  additional 
pensions  under  the  Dependent  Pension  Act.  By  these 
purchases,  also7  a sum  equal  to  $209,366,348  was  set  free, 
and  added  to  the  volume  of  the  currency.  Under  the 
Cleveland  administration  the  amount  thus  set  free  and  added 
to  the  volume  of  the  currency  was  only  $1 17,456,837.  It 
will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  amount  added  to  the  circu- 
lation of  the  currency  under  Harrison’s  administration,  by 
the  above  process,  was  one-fifth  of  the  body  of  the  currency 
— total,  $936,798,644 — authorized  between  July  1,  i860,  and 
March  1,  1889. 

The  decrease  in  the  amount  of  revenue  collected  from  the 
people,  under  the  operation  of  various  reducing  Acts  passed 
during  Harrison’s  administration,  amounted  to  from  $35,- 
000,000  to  $50,000,000,  and  this  reduction  embraced  largely 
the  articles  which  are  of  prime  necessity  to  laboring  man. 
At  the  same  time,  the  average  annual  exports  of  American 
products,  which  average  was  $719,781,096,  under  Cleveland, 
ran  up  to  $907,083,731  under  Harrison.  During  three 
years  of  Harrison’s  administration  our  total  foreign  com- 
merce reached  $5,161,305,023.  During  the  last  three 
years  of  Cleveland’s  administration  the  aggregate  was 
$4,289,702,199.  Under  Mr.  Cleveland  the  excess  of 
exports,  in  three  years,  was  $28,984,379;  under  Harrison 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


473 


they  were,  for  three  years,  $281,197,3 67.  Much  of  all  this 
may  be  ascribed  to  natural  causes,  but  natural  causes  do 
not  operate  in  favor  of  a nation  unless  they  are  guided, 
directed  and  restrained  by  wise  legislation  and  prudent 
administration. 

No  administration  ever  negotiated  so  many  treaties  look- 
ing  to  reciprocal  trade  relations  and  commercial  expansion. 

New  extradition  treaties  were  made  with  England,  the 
Netherlands  and  Colombia,  by  which  persons  guilty  of 
crime,  not  purely  political,  especially  defaulters,  embez- 
zlers, and  all  that  class  of  gentry,  who,  in  places  of  trust, 
treat  all  the  money  they  are  permitted  to  count  as  their  own, 
can  no  longer  find  safety  from  our  law  in  those  countries. 

An  administration  under  which  the  cost  of  collecting  in- 
ternal revenues  was  reduced  for  the  first  time  in  our  history 
below  three  per  cent. 

Which  enforced  rigidly  the  immigration  laws,  reducing 
greatly  the  number  of  pauper  and  alien  contract  immigrants. 

Which  for  the  first  time  in  our  history  attempted  to  make 
men  of  Indians  by  enlisting  them  as  soldiers. 

Which  applied  the  Railway  Postal  Service  to  trans-Atlan- 
tic mails,  extended  the  free-delivery  system  to  small  towns 
and  broke  up  lottery  advertising  through  the  mails. 

Which  established  a system  of  pork  and  beef  inspection, 
which  secures  the  entry  of  beef  and  pork  products  into 
foreign  ports. 

Which  has  strengthened  our  credit  at  home  and  abroad, 
lightened  the  burden  of  debt  upon  the  people,  and  released 
millions  of  dollars  which  the  previous  administration  had 
hoarded  in  the  Treasury,  and  restored  them  to  circulation  in 
the  proper  channels  of  trade  and  commerce. 

Remembering  the  financial  situation  of  1890,  beginning 
with  the  Baring  failure  in  London,  extending  to  all  Euro- 


471 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


pean  and  South  American  countries,  and  threatening  this 
country,  it  was  the  intelligent,  decisive  and  prompt  action 
of  President  Harrison’s  Administration  which  averted  im- 
pending disaster.  Between  July  24th  and  November  10th, 
the  Treasury  disbursed  for  the  redemption  of  bonds  alone 
nearly  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  by  so  doing  re- 
lieved the  stringency  of  the  money  market  and  gave  confi- 
dence and  strength  to  business. 

President  Harrison’s  resolute  attitude  during  the  life  of 
the  Fifty-first  Congress  in  opposition  to  the  efforts  of  those 
who  were  determined  to  pass  a free  and  unlimited  silver 
coinage  act,  defeated  their  purpose  and  saved  the  country 
from  suffering  from  the  certain  evils  which  such  an  act 
would  have  entailed.  His  wisdom  has  brought  about  an 
International  Monetary  Congress,  whose  session  will  serve 
to  simplify  if  not  settle  the  puzzling  question  of  coin  ratios, 
and  the  principle  of  bimetallic  money. 

The  question  of  Chinese  immigration  was  settled  for  the 
next  ten  years.  Four  new  States  were  admitted.  Okla- 
homa was  opened  to  settlement,  and  reservation  after  reser- 
vation added  to  the  public  lands. 

No  other  President  ever  stood  so  firmly  for  purity  and 
freedom  of  the  Suffrage.  In  his  efforts  to  establish  national 
protection  for  the  right  to  vote,  he  has  proven  to  be  ahead 
of  his  party,  but  millions  of  patriotic  American  citizens  to- 
day realize  that  the  time  is  not  remote  v/hen  his  attitude 
must  find  vindication  or  the  great  Republican  experiment 
must  fail. 

Harrison’s  Administration  has  shown  what  a Republican 
Executive  can  do  to  protect  American  citizenship  at  home 
and  abroad,  to  uplift  labor  and  develop  industry,  to  guard 
the  trade  of  the  country  and  the  currency  of  the  people 
against  financial  folly,  and  to  win  from  foreign  powers  ad- 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


475 


vantages  which  no  other  nation  has  ever  secured.  Barriers 
against  American  trade  which  successive  administrations  of 
both  parties  have  been  unable  to  remove,  under  his  admin- 
istration have  at  last  been  swept  away.  The  best  and  most 
progressive  men  of  the  South,  the  men  who  believe  in  justice 
and  law  and  order,  have  been  brought  into  close  harmony 
with  men  of  like  thought  and  feeling  at  the  North.  The 
policy  of  the  great  Republic  has  been  so  impressively  rec- 
ommended to  the  workingmen  and  manufacturers,  the 
traders  and  financiers  of  other  lands,  that  to-day  the  walls 
of  Free  Trade  are  shaken  in  Great  Britain  as  they  have  not 
been  befpre  for  fifty  years,  and  the  wishes  of  this  nation 
bring  together  a congress  of  nations  to  settle  the  long  dis- 
pute regarding  the  monetary  standard. 

It  has  been  a business  administration.  Neither  war  nor 
conquest  has  fired  the  popular  heart  to  overlook  its  short- 
comings in  any  respect.  It  is  because  the  nation  wants  and 
honors  fidelity  and  wisdom  in  the  every-day  duties  of  peace 
that  the  President  has  been  so  favorably  spoken  of  as  his 
own  worthy  successor.  At  once  an  embodiment  and  a 
champion  of  Republican  ideas,  Benjamin  Harrison  will  un- 
doubtedly be  asked  to  serve  again  because  he  has  served 
well,  and  the  people  will  trust  him  again  because  he  ha? 
been  found  worthy  of  trust. 


IX. 


MINNEAPOLIS  AND  RENOMINATION. 

CONVENTION  OF  1 892  AND  PLATFORM. 

The  Republican  National  Committee  met  in  Washing- 
ton, pursuant  to  call,  on  November  23,  1891.  A chief  object 
was  the  selection  of  the  place  at  which  the  National  Con- 
vention for  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  President  and 
Vice-President  for  1892  should  meet.  Various  cities,  East 
and  West,  sought  the  honor  of  the  convention’s  sessions, 
but  the  choice  fell  to  Minneapolis,  after  full  discussion  of 
the  claims  of  all. 

The  place  being  designated,  the  time  was  fixed  for  Tues- 
day, June  7,  1892,  and  the  usual  call  was  issued  for  States 
and  Territories  to  send  delegates — each  State,  four  delegates- 
at-large,  and  two  from  each  Congressional  district,  each 
Territory  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  all  to  be  chosen 
thirty  days  prior  to  the  date  of  the  convention. 

This  was  the  tenth  call  made  by  the  Republican  National 
Committee  for  a convention. 

At  the  date  of  the  above  call  in  November,  1891,  the  Re- 
publican political  situation  was  clear.  The  thought  was 
well  nigh  unanimous  that  President  Harrison  had,  by  a wise 
administration,  earned  the  honor  of  a second  candidacy.  It 
was  felt  by  the  business  and  laboring  interests  that  the 
record  of  the  past  three  years  should  remain  unbroken,  and 
that  the  Republican  party  could  best  confront  its  enemies 
with  the  men  and  measures  that  had  constituted  and  ren- 
dered illustrious  that  record. 

(476) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


477 


But  after  the  turn  of  the  year  1892  it  was  made  apparent 
that  there  were  elements  in  the  Republican  party  which 
were  hostile  to  the  administration.  These  elements  had 
previously  made  their  mutterings  known,  but  not  in  such  a 
way  as  to  lead  to  the  suspicion  that  an  open  declaration  of 
war  was  intended.  The  first  overt  opposition  appeared  in 
the  local  conventions  of  Pennsylvania,  called  at  an  unusually 
early  period  and  with  the  evident  intention  of  taking  a snap 
judgment  on  the  situation.  They  reflected  the  sentiment 
of  those  whose  reason  for  hostility  was  inability  to  control 
as  much  patronage  as  they  thought  they  deserved. 

At  first  no  serious  attention  was  paid  to  this  peculiar,  un- 
necessary and  impolitic  movement.  But  when  it  was  taken 
up  in  other  sections,  as  New  York,  Ohio,  Iowa  and  the 
silver  States,  and  when  it  threatened  to  become  formidable 
if  left  to  run  riot,  there  came  a time  for  consideration  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Harrison’s  friends  and  the  real  friends  of 
the  Republican  party. 

Among  these  friends,  President  Harrison  counted  on  none 
as  more  intimate  and  safe  than  Mr.  Blaine.  He  was  his 
premier,  his  bosom  friend  of  State,  the  custodian  of  his  offi- 
cial secrets,  the  spokesman  of  his  policy.  None  felt  keener 
than  Mr.  Blaine  the  embarrassment  likely  to  follow  the  free- 
dom with  which  his  name  was  used  for  the  purpose  of  shap- 
ing opposition  to  the  administration.  Poison  was  added  to 
the  shaft  by  the  fact  that  none  of  his  now  avowed  admirers 
had  been  his  friends  in  former  years,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
had  been  his  most  bitter  enemies.  An  additional  source  of 
chagrin  and  danger  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition  had  failed  of  that  importance  in  their  own  States 
which  was  necessary  to  save  their  party  from  disaster. 

Out  of  the  situation,  clear  to  even  the  unitiniated,  grew  a 
motive,  all  compelling  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Blaine,  if  his 


478 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


relationship  to  the  administration  was  to  be  maintained.  He 
undoubtedly  weighed  it  well.  His  decision  was  that  he 
could  not  be  a candidate.  He  embodied  this  decision  in  the 
following  letter  to  Chairman  Clarkson  : — 

Washington,  Feb.  6,  1892. 

Hon.  J.  S.  Clarkson, 

Chairman  Republican  National  Committee. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — 

I am  not  a candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  my  name 
will  not  go  before  the  Republican  National  Convention  for 
the  nomination.  I make  this  statement  in  due  season.  To 
those  who  have  tendered  me  their  support,  I owe  sincere 
thanks,  and  am  most  grateful  for  their  confidence.  They 
will,  I am  sure,  make  earnest  efforts  in  the  approaching 
contest,  which  is  rendered  especially  important  by  reason 
of  the  industrial  and  financial  policies  of  the  government 
being  at  stake.  The  popular  decision  on  these  measures  is 
of  great  moment  and  will  be  of  far-reaching  consequence. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

James  G.  Blaine. 

This  letter  was  regarded  as  magnanimous  by  every  one, 
without  regard  to  politics,  for  it  was  written  in  face  of  the 
fact  that  a sentiment  was  crystalizing  about  the  writer’s 
name  which  might  have  made  him  an  easy  victor  at  Minne- 
apolis. It  was  further  regarded  by  friend  and  foe  as  exceed- 
ingly timely,  for  the  reason  that  it  would  prove  a bar  to  all 
further  improper  use  of  his  name  and  would  leave  party 
sentiment  free  to  flow  in  available  channels.  But  most  of 
all,  it  was  accepted  as  a sincere  and  truthful  letter,  expres- 
sive in  good  English  of  precisely  what  was  meant,  and  as 
coming  from  a source  where  duplicity  of  ideas,  insincerity 
of  motive  and  misleading  expression  were  impossible. 

It  so  greatly  clarified  the  situation  as  that  Republicans 
everywhere  fell  voluntarily  to  the  thought  that  Harrison  was 


Hon.  Matthew  S.  Quay. 

Born  at  Dillsburg,  York  co.,  Pa.,  September  30,  1833;  graduated  at 
Jefferson  College,  1850;  admitted  to  bar,  1854  ; elected  Prothonotary  of 
Beaver  co.,  1856  and  1859;  served  in  Union  army  as  Colonel  of  134th 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  as  Military  State  Agent  at  Washington, 
Assistant  Commissary-General  and  Chief  of  Transportation;  Military 
Secretary  to  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  1861-65 ; member  of  Legisla- 
ture, 1865-67;  Secretary  of  Commonwealth,  1872-78;  Chairman  of 
Republican  State  Committee,  1878-79;  Secretary  of  Commonwealth. 
1879-82;  elected  State  Treasurer,  1885  ; elected  United  States  Senator, 
as  Republican,  1886 ; Chairman  of  Republican  National  Committee  dur- 
ing campaign  of  1888;  Chairman  of  Committee  on  Library  and  member 
of  Committees  on  Commerce  and  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds. 

(479) 


rat  llMffl 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


481 


the  logical  and  inevitable  candidate  of  the  party.  In  every 
State  Convention,  save  one  small  Western  State,  his  admin- 
istration met  with  unequivocal  approval  by  resolution.  In 
many  instances  delegates  were  instructed  directly  to  vote 
for  him.  In  others,  they  were,  according  to  custom,  left  un- 
instructed, but  the  understanding  was  accepted  that  they 
should  be  for  Harrison.  It  was  of  this  last  situation  that 
his  opponents  took  advantage. 

Harrison  had  never  asked  favor,  never  announced  himself 
as  a candidate.  The  support  he  was  getting  from  the  States 
came  voluntarily.  The  man  was  there,  let  the  public  judge 
and  treat  him  as  it  please.  The  administration  was  there,  let 
the  verdict  respecting  it  be  that  which  the  masses  of  his  party 
chose  to  register.  He  asked  for  nothing,  yet  would  not  de- 
cline indorsement.  If  worthy  of  vindication,  upon  his  rec- 
ord, let  such  vindication  come  spontaneously.  In  any 
other  shape,  it  would  not  be  vindication.  Never  was  sol- 
emn, subdued  drift,  more  direct  than  toward  him.  It  was  a 
long,  irresistible  ground  wave,  which  refused  to  be  diverted 
by  the  arts  of  political  engineers,  the  devices  of  ambitious 
schemers,  the  intervention  of  disappointed  and  malicious 
adventurers. 

There  were  several  causes  leading  directly  up  to  the  nom 
nation  of  Mr.  Harrison,  and  one  of  them  was  undoubted! 
his  dignified,  manly  bearing  with  regard  to  it.  He  did  not 
proclaim  his  own  desire  to  be  nominated.  He  submitted 
himself,  with  reserve  befitting  his  great  office,  to  the  desire 
of  the  people,  and  waited  for  them  to  “ signify  their  wishes.” 

Then  came  a time,  when,  if  opposition  was  to  amount  to 
anything,  it  must  be  made  to  cohere.  Conjuration  seemed 
out  of  the  question,  except  with  the  magnetic  name  of 
Blaine.  That  name  was  used,  despite  his  unequivocal  letter. 
Men  gathered  to  his  standard,  as  though  they  believed  the 


/ 


482  BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 

politicians  who  were  using  that  name  were  sincere  in  the 
use  of  it.  Many  were  so  infatuated  by  their  admiration  for 
the  name  as  that  they  refused  to  see  that  their  use  of  it  was 
to  fasten  a lie  and  a wrong  on  their  favorite. 

Thus  matters  shaped  till  the  eve  of  the  National  Conven- 
tion. The  Harrison  opponents  made  free  use  of  Mr.  Blaine’s 
name,  and  its  potency  for  their  purposes  was  handicapped 
only  by  the  two  facts  that  he  had  written  his  letter  of  Feb- 
ruary 6,  and  that  he  still  remained  in  the  Cabinet. 

On  June  4,  1892,  an  event  transpired  which  was  interpre- 
ted by  the  country  to  mean  that  Mr.  Blaine  was  no  longer 
averse  to  the  use  of  his  name  as  a candidate.  On  that  date, 
he  wrote  the  following  letter  of  resignation  to  President 
Harrison : — 

Department  of  State,  Washington , June  4,  1892. 
To  the  President: — 

I respectfully  beg  leave  to  submit  my  resignation  of  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  to  which  I 
was  appointed  by  you  on  March  5,  1889. 

The  condition  of  public  affairs  in  the  Department  of  State 
justifies  me  in  requesting  that  my  resignation  may  be  ac- 
cepted immediately.  I have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  very  obedient  servant, 

James  G.  Blaine. 

To  this  Mr.  Harrison  sent  promptly  the  following 
reply : — 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington , June  4,  1892. 
To  the  Secretary  of  State  : — 

Your  letter  of  this  date  tendering  your  resignation  of  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  has  been 
received.  The  terms  on  which  you  state  your  desires  are 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.  483 

such  as  to  leave  me  no  choice  but  to  accede  to  your  wishes 
at  once. 

Your  resignation  is  therefore  accepted. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Benjamin  Harrison. 

Hon.  James  G.  Blaine. 

This  dramatic  event  was  quickly  turned  to  their  account 
by  the  Harrison  opponents,  many  of  whom  were  already  in 
Minneapolis,  or  on  their  way  there.  They  did  not  hesitate 
to  construe  it  as  a break  between  Harrison  and  Blaine,  and 
as  notice  that  they  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  place  the  name 
of  the  latter  before  the  Convention  and  to  count  on  his  an- 
tagonism to  the  President. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the  Republican 
National  Convention  opened  at  Minneapolis  on  June  7,  1892. 
It  became  apparent  on  the  first  day’s  session  that  the 
Harrison  opponents  would  use  all  the  arts  and  ma- 
chinery within  their  control  to  carry  their  object.  Assum- 
ing the  aggressive,  and  having  a majority  on  the  National 
Committee,  they  organized  the  Committee  on  Credentials, 
and  other  Committees  in  their  favor,  and  selected  one  of 
their  own  number  as  Temporary  Chairman  of  the  Con- 
vention. 

There  were  in  the  Convention  906  votes,  requiring  454 
to  nominate,  if  all  were  cast.  On  the  second  day  of  the 
Convention,  the  friends  of  President  Harrison  found  they 
could  cohere  and  hold  their  forces,  even  if  they  could 
not  exactly  number  them.  In  this  they  had  the  advan- 
tage of  a single  name  and  object,  namely,  Harrison  and 
his  nomination.  They  were  greatly  aided  too,  by  the  fact 
that  Harrison  delegates  embodied  steadfast  convictions  as 
to  the  character  and  availability  of  their  man,  and,  there- 


484 


benjamin  Garrison. 


fore,  were  not  of  a class  that  could  be  cajoled  by  specious 
arguments  or  carried  away  by  shouts  and  vain  show. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  were  not 
succeeding  as  they  had  expected.  They  must  prevent  the 
nomination  of  Harrison  on  the  first  ballot.  In  order  to  do 
this  they  dare  not  let  go  the  name  of  Blaine.  Yet  that 
name  was  not  proving  as  magical  as  they  had  anticipated. 
This  gave  rise  to  the  suggestion  of  a dark  horse,  which  was 
in  itself  a confession  of  weakness,  though  it  was  thought  to 
be  in  accord  with  the  original  designs  of  those  who  had 
been  using  Blaine’s  name  from  the  very  first.  Moreover, 
the  transit  from  Blaine  to  a dark  horse  would  be  fraught 
with  great  danger,  for  there  were  many  sincere  friends  of 
Mr.  Blaine  in  the  Convention,  who  would  not  have  deserted 
him  for  a third  man,  but  who  would  have  preferred  to 
transfer  their  strength  to  Harrison. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  Convention,  the  situation  was 
greatly  simplified  by  a gathering  of  the  delegates  who 
favored  Harrison.  They  numbered  more  than  half  the  Con- 
vention. They,  therefore,  resolved  to  take  the  initiative, 
force  the  fighting  and  overcome  the  tactics  of  the  opposi- 
tion, which  were  now  tactics  of  delay.  The  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Credentials  gave  them  their  op- 
portunity. They  moved  the  adoption  of  a minority  report 
instead  of  the  majority  one,  in  the  case  of  the  Alabama  con- 
tests, and  easily  carried  it.  The  Convention  was  theirs  from 
this  time  on. 

The  fourth  day  of  Ihe  Convention,  June  10,  brought  the 
nominations  and  bailoting.  It  was  a day  of  superb  confi- 
dence on  the  part  the  Harrison  delegates  and  leaders.  It 
was  a day  of  extreme  anxiety  and  unrest  on  the  part  of  the 
Blaine  forces,  who  had  two  battles  on  hand,  one  to  make 
everything  rally  to  the  standard  of  the  “ plumed  knight  ” in 


Born  at  Shoreham,  Vt.,  May  16,  1824;  educated  in  common  schools; 
entered  mercantile  business  at  Concord,  N.  H. ; at  twenty-five,  mem- 
ber of  firm  of  Morton  & Co.,  Boston ; member  of  firm  of  Morton  & 
Grinnell,  New  York,  1854;  a banker  in  1863;  Morton,  Bliss  & Co.,  in 
1868;  elected  to  Congress  in  Twelth  New  York  District  in  1878;  an 
authority  in  matters  of  finance;  declined  Vice-Presidential  nomination, 
1880 ; furnished  fourth  of  cargo  to  Irish  sufferers ; declined  Secretary- 
ship of  Navy  under  Garfield ; Minister  to  France  under  Garfield ; urged 
for  U.  S.  Senator,  1885;  elected  Vice-President,  1888;  noted  for  finan- 
cial knowledge,  charitable  disposition,  and  nobility  of  character. 

(4»5) 


I 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.  487 

order  to  prevent  Harrison’s  nomination  on  the  first  ballot, 
the  other  to  make  a fresh  deployment  of  their  forces,  under 
fire,  and  shift  them  bodily  to  a new  man.  They  could  not 
do  the  former  without  formally  presenting  his  name  to  the 
Convention,  yet  to  do  this  was  to  bring  him  face  to  face  with 
the  contents  of  his  own  letter  declining  to  be  a candidate. 
Neither  could  they  do  the  latter  without  more  time  for  man- 
ipulation than  the  majority  were  now  willing  to  extend,  for 
already  such  time  had  been  freely  extended,  and  the  legiti- 
mate excuse  for  further  delay  did  not  exist. 

So  the  roll  call  for  nominations  began.  Senator  Wolcott 
nominated  Mr.  Blaine  in  an  able  speech,  which  was  ably 
seconded.  The  Convention  burst  into  applause  which  was 
continued  for  many  minutes,  to  be  renewed  again  and  again. 
The  demonstrations  did  not  result  in  the  expected  stam- 
pede. It  did  not  even  disguise  the  preparations  for  a change 
of  front  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Blaine’s  friends,  which  change 
as  will  be  seen  by  the  vote  was  to  McKinley,  with  a view  to 
keeping  the  Harrison  votes  in  Ohio  from  going  to  where 
they  properly  belonged,  on  the  first  ballot.  The  McKinley 
movement  had  the  same  effect  in  one  or  two  other  States. 

When  Indiana  was  reached,  the  venerable  Richard  W. 
Thompson  placed  the  name  of  Benjamin  Harrison  in  nomi- 
nation with  a few  appropriate  remarks.  This  drew  forth 
equally  long  and  loud  applause,  which  was  to  be  repeated 
even  more  vociferously  when  the  orator  of  the  day  and  the 
convention,  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  came  to  second  the  nom- 
ination. The  address  of  Mr.  Depew  was  a masterpiece  of 
eloquence.  He  felt  that  he  had  a great  occasion,  an  inspir- 
ing subject,  an  exceptional  opportunity,  and  he  rose  to 
them  all  with  an  earnestness  and  force  that  carried  the  Con- 
vention quite  away  and  left  no  doubts  of  the  results  of  the 
first  ballot.  As  an  analysis  of  the  political  situation,  as  a 
22 


488 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


brief  of  Republican  history,  as  a record  of  the  administra- 
tive achievements  of  President  Harrison,  as  an  argument  for 
again  honoring  him  with  nomination,  this  speech  stands 
without  exception  for  brilliancy,  beauty  and  force,  and  it 
ought  to  become  a classic  in  every  Republican  household. 

DEPEW’S  ELOQUENT  ORATION. 

“ Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : It  is 

the  peculiarity  of  Republican  National  Conventions  that 
each  one  of  them  has  a distinct  and  interesting  history.  We 
are  here  to  meet  conditions  and  solve  problems  which  make 
this  gathering  not  only  no  exception  to  the  rule  but  sub- 
stantially a new  departure.  That  there  should  be  strong 
convictions  and  earnest  expressions  as  to  preferences  and 
policies  is  characteristic  of  the  right  of  individual  judgment, 
which  is  the  fundamental  principle  of  Republicanism.  There 
have  been  occasions  when  the  result  was  so  sure  that  the 
delegates  c@uld  freely  indulge  in  the  charming  privilege  of 
favoritism  and  of  friendship.  But  the  situation  which  now 
confronts  us  demands  the  exercise  of  dispassionate  judg- 
ment and  our  best  thought  and  experience. 

“ We  cannot  venture  on  uncertain  ground  or  encounter 
obstacles  placed  in  the  pathway  of  success  by  ourselves. 
The  Democratic  party  is  now  divided,  but  the  hope  of  the 
possession  of  power  once  more  will  make  it  in  the  final  battle 
more  aggressive,  determined,  and  unscrupulous  than  ever. 
It  starts  with  fifteen  States  secure  without  an  effort,  by  pro- 
cesses which  are  a travesty  upon  popular  Government,  and 
if  continued  long  enough  will  paralyze  institutions  founded 
upon  popular  suffrage.  It  has  to  win  four  more  States  in  a 
fair  fight.  States  which  in  the  vocabulary  of  politics  are 
denominated  ‘ doubtful.’ 

“ The  Republican  party  must  appeal  to  the  conscience  and 
the  judgment  of  the  individual  voter  in  every  State  in  the 
Union.  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  principles  upon 
which  it  was  founded  and  the  objects  for  which  it  contends. 
It  has  accepted  this  issue  before  and  fought  it  out  with  an 
extraordinary  continuance  of  success.  The  conditions  of 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


489 


Republican  victory  from  i860  to  1880  were  created  by 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  They  were  that 
the  saved  Republic  should  be  run  by  its  saviours  ; they  were 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  the  reconstruction  of  the 
States,  the  reception  of  those  who  had  fought  to  destroy  the 
Republic  back  into  the  fold,  without  penalties  or  punish- 
ments, and  to  an  equal  share  with  those  who  had  fought 
and  saved  the  nation,  in  the  solemn  obligations  and  inestim- 
able privilege  of  American  citizenship.  They  were  the  em- 
bodiment into  the  Constitution  of  the  principles  for  which 
2,000,000  of  men  had  fought  and  500,000  had  died.  They 
were  the  restoration  of  public  credit,  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  and  the  prosperous  condition  of  solvent 
business. 

“ For  twenty-five  years  there  were  names  with  which  to 
conjure  and  events  fresh  in  the  public  mind  which  were  elo- 
quent with  popular  enthusiasm.  It  needed  little  else  than  a 
recital  of  the  glorious  story  of  its  heroes,  and  a statement 
of  the  achievements  of  the  Republican  party  to  retain  the 
confidence  of  the  people.  But  from  the  desire  for  change, 
which  is  characteristic  of  free  governments,  there  came  a re- 
versal, there  came  a check  to  the  progress  of  the  Republi- 
can party  and  four  years  of  Democratic  administration. 
These  four  years  largely  relegated  to  the  realms  of  history 
past  issues,  and  brought  us  face  to  face  with  what  the  De- 
mocracy, its  professions,  and  its  practices  mean  to-day. 

“ The  great  names  which  adorned  the  roll  of  Republican 
statesmen  and  soldiers  are  still  potent  and  popular.  The 
great  measures  of  the  Republican  party  are  still  the  best  of 
the  history  of  the  century.  The  unequaled  and  unexampled 
story  of  Republicanism  in  its  promises  and  its  achievements 
stands  unique  in  the  record  of  parties  in  governments  which 
are  free. 

“ But  we  live  in  practical  times,  facing  practical  issues, 
which  affect  the  business,  the  wages,  the  labor,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  to-day.  The  campaign  will  be  won  or  lost,  not 
upon  the  bad  record  of  James  K.  Polk,  or  of  Franklin  Pierce, 
or  of  James  Buchanan — not  upon  the  good  record  of  Lin- 
coln, or  of  Grant,  or  of  Arthur,  or  of  Hayes,  or  of  Garfield. 


490 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


It  will  be  won  or  lost  upon  the  policy,  foreign  and  domes- 
tic, the  industrial  measures  and  the  administrative  acts  of 
the  administration  of  Benjamin  Harrison.  Whoever  re- 
ceives the  nomination  of  this  convention  will  run  upon  the 
judgment  of  the  people  as  to  whether  they  have  been  more 
prosperous  and  happy,  whether  the  country  has  been  in  a 
better  condition  at  home,  and  stood  more  honorably  abroad 
under  these  last  four  years  of  Harrison  and  Republican  ad- 
ministration, than  during  the  preceding  four  years  of  Cleve- 
land and  Democratic  government. 

“ Not  since  Thomas  Jefferson  has  any  administration  been 
called  upon  to  face  and  solve  so  many  or  such  difficult  pro- 
blems as  those  which  have  been  exigent  in  our  condition. 
No  administration  since  the  organization  of  the  Government 
has  met  difficulties  better  or  more  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
American  people. 

“ Chili  has  been  taught  that  no  matter  how  small  the 
antagonist,  no  community  can  with  safety  insult  the  flag  or 
murder  American  sailors. 

“ Germany  and  England  have  learned  in  Samoa  that  the 
United  States  has  become  one  of  the  powers  of  the  world, 
and  no  matter  how  mighty  the  adversary  at  every  sacrifice 
American  honor  will  be  maintained.  The  Bering  Sea  ques- 
tion, which  was  the  insurmountable  obstacle  in  the  diplomacy 
of  Cleveland  and  Bayard,  has  been  settled  upon  a basis  which 
sustains  the  American  position  until  arbitration  shall  have 
determined  our  right. 

“ The  dollar  of  the  country  has  been  placed  and  kept  in 
the  standard  of  commercial  nations,  and  a coin  has  been 
agreed  upon  with  foreign  governments  which,  by  making 
bi-metallism  the  policy  of  all  nations,  may  successfully  solve 
all  our  financial  problems. 

“ The  tariff  tinkered  with,  and  trifled  with,  to  the  serious 
disturbance  of  trade  and  disaster  to  business  since  the  days 
of  Washington  has  been  courageously  embodied  into  a code 
— a code  which  has  preserved  the  principle  of  the  protection 
of  American  industries.  To  it  has  been  added  a beneficent 
policy,  supplemented  by  beneficent  treaties,  and  wise  diplo- 
macy, which  has  opened  to  our  farmers  and  manufacturers 


&&eues  asm 


Hon.  Joseph  B.  Foraker. 

Born  near  Rainsborough,  Ohio,  July  5,  1846 ; enlisted  from  farm  in 
89th  Ohio  Regiment ; served  in  army  of  Cumberland  till  close  of  war ; 
Sergeant  in  1862;  First  Lieutenant  in  1864;  Captain  in  1865;  Aide  to 
General  Slocum;  after  war  entered  Wesleyan  University;  graduated  at 
Cornell,  1869 ; studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar;  Judge  of  Cincinnati 
Superior  Court,  1879-82  ; nominated  as  Republican  candidate  for  Gov 
ernor  in  1883,  and  defeated ; re-nominated  in  1885  and  elected ; re- 
elected, but  defeated  by  Gov.  Campbell  in  1889 ; noted  for  fiery  eloquence 
and  devotion  to  cause  of  soldiers. 


(492) 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


493 


the  markets  of  other  countries.  The  navy  has  been  builded 
upon  lines  which  will  protect  American  citizens  and  American 
interests  and  the  American  flag  all  over  the  world.  The 
public  debt  has  been  reduced.  Maturing  bonds  have  been 
paid  off.  The  public  credit  has  been  maintained.  The 
burdens  of  taxation  have  been  lightened.  Two  hundred  mil- 
lions of  currency  have  been  added  to  the  people’s  money 
without  disturbance  of  the  exchanges. 

“ Unexampled  prosperity  has  crowned  wise  laws  and  their 
wise  administration.  The  main  question  which  divides  us 
is  to  whom  does  the  credit  of  all  this  belong  ? Orators  may 
stand  upon  this  platform  more  able  and  more  eloquent  than 
I,  who  will  paint  in  more  brilliant  colors,  but  they  cannot 
put  in  more  earnest  thought,  the  affection  and  admiration 
of  Republicans  for  our  distinguished  Secretary  of  State.  I 
yield  to  no  Republican,  no  matter  from  which  State  he  hails, 
in  admiration  and  respect  for  John  Sherman,  for  Governor 
McKinley,  for  Thomas  B.  Reed,  for  Iowa’s  great  son,  for 
the  favorites  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan.  But 
when  I am  told  that  the  credit  for  the  brilliant  diplomacy 
of  this  administration  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  for  the  administration  of  its  finances  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  for  the  construction  of  its  ships  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  for  the  introduction  of  American  pork  in 
Europe  to  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  for  the  settlement, 
so  far  as  it  is  settled,  of  the  currency  question  to  Senator 
John  Sherman,  for  the  formulation  of  the  tariff  law  to  Gover- 
nor McKinley,  for  the  removal  of  the  restrictions  placed  by 
foreign  nations  upon  the  introduction  of  American  pork  to 
our  ministers  at  Paris  and  Berlin,  I am  tempted  to  seriously 
inquire  who  during  the  last  four  years  has  been  President  of 
the  United  States,  anyhow  ? 

“ Caesar,  when  he  wrote  those  commentaries,  which  were 
the  history  of  the  conquests  of  Europe  under  his  leadership, 
modestly  took  the  position  of  ^Eneas  when  he  said  : ‘ They 
are  the  narrative  of  events,  the  whole  of  which  I saw  and  the 
part  of  which  I was.’ 

“ General  Thomas,  as  the  rock  of  Chickamauga,  occupies 
a place  in  our  history  with  Leonidas  among  the  Greeks, 


494 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


except  that  he  succeeded  where  Leonidas  failed.  The  fight 
of  Joe  Hooker  above  the  clouds  was  the  poetry  of  battle. 
The  resistless  rush  of  Sheridan  and  his  steed  down  the  valley 
of  Shenandoah  is  the  epic  of  our  civil  war.  The  march  of 
Sherman  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea  is  the  supreme  triumph  of 
gallantry  and  strategy.  It  detracts  nothing  from  the% splen- 
dor of  the  fame,  or  the  merits  of  the  deeds  of  his  lieutenants 
to  say  that,  having  selected  them  with  marvelous  sagacity 
and  discretion,  Grant  still  remained  the  supreme  commander 
of  the  national  army. 

“ All  the  proposed  Acts  of  any  administration,  before  they 
are  formulated,  are  passed  upon  in  Cabinet  council,  and  the 
measures  and  suggestions  of  the  ablest  Secretaries  would 
have  failed  with  a lesser  President.  But  for  the  great  good 
of  the  country,  and  the  benefit  of  the  Republican  party,  they 
have  succeeded,  because  of  the  suggestive  mind,  the  in- 
domitable courage,  the  intelligent  appreciation  of  situations, 
and  the  grand  magnanimity  of  Benjamin  Harrison. 

“ It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  during  the  few  months  when 
both  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury were  ill,  the  President  personally  assumed  the  duties  of 
the  State  and  the  Treasury  Departments  and  both  with  equal 
success.  The  Secretary  of  State,  in  accepting  his  portfolio 
under  President  Garfield,  wrote : ‘ Your  administration  must 
be  made  brilliantly  successful  and  strong  in  the  confidence 
and  pride  of  the  people,  not  at  all  diverting  its  energies  for 
re-election,  and  yet  compelling  that  result  by  the  logic  of 
events  and  by  the  imperious  necessities  of  the  situation.’ 

“ Garfield  fell  before  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  and  Mr. 
Blaine  retired  to  private  life.  General  Harrison  invited  him 
to  take  up  that  unfinished  diplomatic  career,  where  its  threads 
had  been  so  tragically  broken.  He  entered  the  Cabinet. 
He  resumed  his  work  and  has  won  a higher  place  in  our 
history.  The  prophecy  he  made  for  Garfield  has  been 
superbly  fulfilled  by  President  Harrison.  In  the  language 
of  Mr.  Blaine,  ‘ The  President  has  compelled  a re-election 
by  the  logic  of  events  and  the  imperious  necessities  of  the 
situation.’ 

“ The  man  who  is  nominated  here  to-day,  to  win,  must 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


495 


Carry  a certain  well-known  number  of  the  doubtful  States. 
Patrick  Henry,  in  the  convention  which  started  rolling  the 
ball  of  the  independence  of  the  colonies  from  Great  Britain, 
said : ‘ I have,  but  one  lamp  by  which  my  feet  are  guided 
and  that  is  the  lamp  of  experience.  I know  of  no  way  of 
judging  of  the  future  but  by  the  past.’ 

“ New  York  was  carried  in  1880  by  General  Garfield  and 
in  every  important  election  since  that  time  we  have  done 
our  best.  We  have  put  forward  our  ablest,  our  most  popu- 
lar, our  most  brilliant  leaders  for  Governor  and  State  officers, 
to  suffer  constant  defeat.  The  only  light  which  illumines 
the  sun  of  hope,  the  dark  record  of  those  twelve  years,  is 
the  fact  that  in  1888,  the  State  of  New  York  was  trium- 
phantly carried  by  President  Harrison.  He  carried  it  then 
as  a gallant  soldier,  a wise  Senator,  a statesman  who 
rnspired  confidence  by  his  public  utterances  in  daily 
speeches  from  the  commencement  f the  canvass  to  its 
close.  He  still  has  all  these  claims,  and  in  addition  an 
administration  beyond  criticism  and  rich  with  the  elements 
of  popularity  with  which  to  carry  New  York  again. 

“An  ancestry  helps  in  the  old  world  and  handicaps  in  the 
new.  There  is  but  one  distinguished  example  of  a son 
overcoming  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  pre-eminent 
fame  of  his  father  and  then  rising  above  it,  and  that  was 
when  the  younger  Pitt  became  greater  than  Chatham. 

“ With  an  ancestor  a signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  another  who  saved  the  Northwest  from 
savagery  and  gave  it  to  civilization  and  empire,  and  who 
was  also  President  of  the  United  States,  a poor  and  unknown 
lawyer  of  Indiana  has  risen  by  his- unaided  efforts  to  such 
distinction  as  lawyer,  orator,  soldier,  statesman  and  Presi- 
dent that  he  reflects  more  credit  upon  his  ancestors  than 
they  have  devolved  upon  him  and  presents  in  American 
history  the  parallel  of  the  younger  Pitt. 

“ By  the  grand  record  of  a wise  and  popular  administra- 
tion, by  the  strength  gained  in  frequent  contact  with  the 
people,  in  wonderfully  versatile  and  felicitous  speech,  by  the 
claims  of  a pure  life  in  public  and  in  the  simplicity  of  a 
typical  American  home,  I nominate  Benjamin  Harrison." 


496 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


When  Wisconsin  was  called,  the  name  of  ex-Senator 
Spooner  was  lustily  cheered  and  a speech  demanded.  His 
address  was  hardly  less  forcible  than  that  of  Mr.  Depew’s. 

FIRST  AND  WINNING  BALLOT. 

The  balloting  began  amid  subdued  excitement.  From 
the  very  first  it  was  manifest  that  nothing  had  occurred  to 
shake  the  resolution  of  the  Harrison  delegates,  and  that  the 
arts  of  the  opposition  had  so  far  exhausted  themselves  as  to 
prove  of  little  further  danger.  The  designed  swing  from 
Blaine  to  McKinley  cropped  out  early  in  the  balloting,  but 
it  carried  little  from  the  Harrison  column  until  Ohio  was 
reached.  All  such  losses  were  very  nearly  met  by  a corre- 
sponding swing  from  Blaine  to  Harrison,  among  those  who 
refused  to  enter  the  dark  horse  camp.  The  ballot  was  taken 
on  the  afternoon  of  June  io,  and  resulted  in  the  following 
figures  : 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast 

Necessary  to  a choice 

Benjamin  Harrison  received 

James  G.  Blaine 

William  McKinley 

Robert  T.  Lincoln 

Thomas  B.  Reed 

The  following  is  the  official  vote  by  States : 


States.  Harrison.  Blaine.  McKinley 

Alabama ..  15  ..  7 

Arkansas... 15  ••  1 

California 8 9 I 

Colorado 8 

Connecticut 4 . . 8 

Delaware 41  I 

Florida 8 

Georgia 26  ..  .. 

Illinois 34  14  •• 

Idaho 6 •• 

Indiana 30  . . 

Iowa 20  5 I 


■904  lA 

•453 

■53554 

.18214 

.182 

I 

• 4 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


497 


States. 


first  ballot — Continued. 

Harrison.  Blaine. 


Vermont 8 

Virginia 9 

Washington I 

West  Virginia 12 

Wisconsin 19 

Wyoming 4 

Arizona I 

District  of  Columbia 

New  Mexico 6 

Oklahoma 2 

Utah 2 

Alaska 2. 

Indian  Territory I 

Totals 535 


13 

6 

2 

2 

1 

2 


18214 


McKinley. 


Kansas 

. 11 

# , 

9 

Kentucky 

2 

Louisiana 

8 

8 

. . 

Maine 

12 

• 0 

Maryland 

14 

. . 

2 

Massachusetts 

18 

1 

11 

Michigan 

2 

19 

Minnesota 

8 

9 

1 

Missouri 

28 

4 

2 

Mississippi 

'3'A 

4 # 

. . 

Montana 

1 

. . 

Nebraska 

. . 

1 

Nevada 

6 

. . 

New  Hampshire 

2 

. . 

New  Jersey 

18 

2 

. . 

New  York 

35 

10 

North  Carolina 

17% 

2% 

1 

North  Dakota 

4 

. . 

Ohio 

. . 

45 

Oregon 

1 

. . 

7 

Pennsylvania 

3 

42 

Rhode  Island 

..  5 

1 

1 

South  Carolina 

3 

2 

South  Dakota 

8 

. . 

Tennessee 

4 

3 

Texas 

6 

182 


Ex-Speaker  Reed  received  4 votes,  1 from  New  Hampshire,  1 from  Rhode 
Island,  and  2 from  Texas,  and  Robert  T.  Lincoln  1 from  New  Hampshire. 
There  were  2j£  votes  absent. 


The  Chairman — President  Harrison,  having  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  ca&t,  has  received  the  nomination  of 


498 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


tfiis  Convention.  Shall  it  be  unanimous  ? [Loud  cries  of 
“Yes.”]  The  nomination  is  made  unanimous. 

During  the  evening  session  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  late 
Minister  to  France,  and  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune , 
was  nominated  as  the  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
This  was  a concession  to  the  New  York  delegation,  and  his 
nomination  took  place  on  the  announcement  of  his  name. 

PLATFORM  OF  PRINCIPLES,  1892. 

AS  ADOPTED  AT  REPUBLICAN  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 

The  representatives  of  the  Republicans  of  the  United 
States  assembled  in  general  convention  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  the  everlasting  bond  of  an  indestructible 
Republic,  whose  most  glorious  chapter  of  history  is  the 
/ecord  of  the  Republican  party,  congratulate  their  country- 
men on  the  majestic  march  of  the  nation  under  the  banners 
inscribed  with  the  principles  of  our  platform  of  1888,  vindi- 
cated by  victory  at  the  polls  and  prosperity  in  our  fields, 
workshops  and  mines,  and  make  the  following  declaration 
of  principles : 

PROTECTION  AND  RECIPROCITY.— We  reaffirm 
the  American  doctrine  of  protection.  We  call  attention  to 
its  growth  abroad.  We  maintain  that  the  prosperous  con- 
dition of  our  country  is  largely  due  to  the  wise  revenue 
legislation  of  the  Republican  Congress. 

We  believe  that  all  articles  which  cannot  be  produced 
in  the  United  States,  except  luxuries,  should  be  admitted 
free  of  duty,  and  that  on  all  imports  coming  into  competi- 
tion with  the  products  of  American  labor  there  should  be 
levied  duties  equal  to  the  difference  between  wages  abroad 
4nd  at  home. 

We  assert  that  the  prices  of  manufactured  articles  of 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


499 


general  consumption  have  been  reduced  under  the  opera- 
tions  of  the  Tariff  act  of  1890. 

We  denounce  the  efforts  of  the  Democratic  majority  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  to  destroy  our  tariff  laws,  as 
is  manifested  by  their  attacks  upon  wool,  lead,  and  lead  ores? 
the  chief  product  of  a number  of  States,  and  we  ask  the 
people  for  their  judgment  thereon. 

We  point  to  the  success  of  the  Republican  policy  of  reci- 
procity under  which  our  export  trade  has  vastly  increased 
and  new  and  enlarged  markets  have  been  opened  for  the 
products  of  our  farms  and  workshops. 

We  remind  the  people  ©f  the  bitter  opposition  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  to  this  practical  business  measure,  and  claim 
that  executed  by  a Republican  administration  our  present 
laws  will  eventually  give  us  control  of  the  trade  of  the 
world. 

THE  SILVER  PLANK. — The  American  people  from 
tradition  and  interest  favor  bimetallism,  and  the  Republican 
party  demands  the  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  standard 
money,  with  such  restrictions  and  under  such  provisions,  to 
be  determined  by  the  legislation,  as  will  secure  the  main- 
tenance of  the  parity  of  values  of  the  two  metals,  so  that  the 
purchasing  and  debt-paying  power  of  the  dollar,  whether  of 
silver,  gold  or  paper,  shall  be  at  all  times  equal.  The  in- 
terests of  the  producers  of  the  country,  its  farmers  and  its 
workingmen, demand  that  every  dollar,  paper  or  coin,  issued 
by  the  government  shall  be  as  good  as  any  other.  We 
commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  steps  already  taken  by  our 
government  to  secure  an  international  conference,  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  will  insure  a parity  of  value  between  gold 
and  silver  for  use  as  money  throughout  the  world. 

A FREE  BALLOT. — We  demand  that  every  citizen  of 
the  United  States  shall  be  allowed  to  cast  one  free  and  un- 


5oo 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


restricted  ballot  in  all  public  elections,  and  that  such  ballot 
shall  be  counted  and  returned  as  cast ; that  such  laws  shall 
be  enacted  and  enforced  as  will  secure  to  every  citizen,  be 
he  rich  or  poor,  native  or  foreign  born,  white  or  black,  this 
sovereign  right  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. 

The  free  and  honest  popular  ballot,  the  just  and  equal 
representation  of  all  the  people,  as  well  as  their  just  and 
equal  protection  under  the  laws,  are  the  foundation  of  our 
Republican  institutions,  and  the  party  will  never  relax  its 
efforts  until  the  integrity  of  the  ballot  and  the  purity  of  elec- 
tions shall  be  fully  guaranteed  and  protected  in  every  State. 

SOUTHERN  OUTRAGES.— We  denounce  the  con- 
tinued inhuman  outrages  perpetrated  upon  American  citi- 
izens  for  political  reasons  in  certain  Southern  States  of  the 
Union. 

FOREIGN  RELATIONS. — We  favor  the  extension  of 
our  foreign  commerce ; the  restoration  of  our  mercantile 
marine  by  home-built  ships  and  the  creation  of  a navy  for 
the  protection  of  our  national  interests  and  the  honor  of  our 
flag ; the  maintenance  of  the  most  friendly  relations  with  all 
foreign  Powers,  entangling  alliance  with  none,  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  rights  of  our  fishermen. 

We  reaffirm  our  approval  of  the  Monroe  doctrine,  and 
believe  in  the  achievement  of  the  manifest  destiny  of  the 
Republic  in  its  broadest  sense. 

We  favor  the  enactment  of  more  stringent  laws  and  regu- 
lations for  the  restriction  of  criminal,  pauper  and  contract 
immigration. 

CHURCH  AND  STATE. — We  favor  efficient  legislation 
by  Congress  to  protect  the  life  and  limbs  of  employes  of 
transportation  companies  engaged  in  carrying  on  inter-State 
commerce,  and  recommend  legislation  by  the  respective 
States  that  will  protect  employees  engaged  in  State  com- 


Hon.  Joseph  R.  Hawley. 


Born  in  Richmond  co.,  N.  C.,  October  31st,  1826;  educated  at 
Hamilton  College,  N.  Y. ; admitted  to  bar  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  1850; 
editor  of  Hartford  Evening  Press  and  Courant  from  1857  to  present ; 
enlisted  in  army  April  15,  1861 ; mustered  out  as  Brevet  Major-General 
January  15,  1866;  elected  Governor  of  State,  as  a Republican,  April, 
1866;  Delegate  to  Republican  National  Conventions,  1872-76-80; 
President  of  Centennial  Exhibition  ; elected  to  42d  Congress,  November, 
1872 ; re-elected  to  43d  and  46th  Congresses ; elected  to  U.  S.  Senate, 
as  a Republican,  March  4,  1881 ; re-elected  in  1887  ; Chairman  of  Com- 
mittee on  Military  Affairs,  and  member  of  Committees  on  Coast  Defences, 
Printing  and  Railroads. 

(5°0 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


5°3 


merce,  in  mining  and  manufacturing.  The  Republican 
party  has  always  been  the  champion  of  the  oppressed,  and 
recognizes  the  dignity  of  manhood,  irrespective  of  faith, 
color  or  nationality;  it  sympathizes  with  the  cause  of  home 
rule  in  Ireland  and  protests  against  the  persecution  of  the 
Jews  in  Russia. 

The  ultimate  reliance  of  free  proper  government  is  the 
intelligence  of  the  people,  and  the  maintenance  of  freedom 
among  its  men.  We  therefore  declare  a new  devotion  to 
liberty  of  thought  and  conscience,  of  speech  and  press,  and 
approve  all  agencies  and  instrumentalities  which  contribute 
to  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  land ; but  while  in- 
sisting upon  the  fullest  measure  of  religious  liberty,  we  are 
opposed  to  any  union  of  Church  and  State. 

TRUSTS. — We  reaffirm  our  opposition,  declared  in  the 
Republican  platform  of  1888,  to  all  combinations  of  capital 
organized  in  trusts  or  otherwise  to  control  arbitrarily  the 
condition  of  trade  among  our  citizens.  We  heartily  endorse 
the  action  already  taken  upon  this  subject,  and  ask  for 
such  further  legislation  as  may  be  required  to  remedy  any 
defects  in  existing  laws  and  to  render  their  enforcement 
more  complete  and  effective. 

LETTER  POSTAGE. — We  approve  the  policy  of  ex- 
tending to  towns,  villages  and  rural  communities  the  advan- 
tages of  the  free  delivery  service  now  enjoyed  by  the  larger 
cities  of  the  country,  and  reaffirm  the  declaration  contained 
in  the  Republican  platform  of  1888,  pledging  the  reduction 
of  letter  postage  to  one  cent  at  the  earliest  possible  moment 
consistent  with  the  maintenance  of  the  Post-office  Depart- 
ment and  the  highest  class  of  postal  service. 

CIVIL  SERVICE. — We  commend  the  spirit  and  evi- 
dence of  reform  in  the  civil  service  and  the  wise  and  con- 


504 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


sistent  enforcement  by  the  Republican  party  of  the  laws 
regulating  the  same. 

NICARAGUA  CANAL. — The  construction  of  the  Ni- 
caragua Canal  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  American 
people  as  a measure  of  national  defence  and  to  build  up  and 
maintain  American  commerce,  and  it  should  be  controlled 
by  the  United  States  government. 

TERRITORIES. — We  favor  the  admission  of  the  re- 
maining territories  at  the  earliest  practical  date,  having  due 
regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  territories  and  of 
the  United  States.  All  the  federal  officers  appointed  for  the 
territories  should  be  selected  from  bona  fide  residents 
thereof,  and  the  right  of  self-government  should  be  ac- 
corded as  far  as  practicable. 

We  favor  cession,  subject  to  homestead  laws,  of  the  arid 
public  lands  to  the  States  and  Territories  in  which  they  lie, 
under  such  Congressional  restrictions  as  to  disposition,  re- 
clamation and  occupancy  by  settlers  as  will  secure  the 
maximum  benefits  to  the  people. 

THE  WORLD’S  FAIR.— The  World’s  Columbian  Ex- 
position is  a great  national  undertaking,  and  Congress 
should  promptly  enact  such  reasonable  legislation  in  aid 
thereof  as  will  insure  a discharging  of  the  expense  and  obli- 
gation incident  thereto  and  the  attainment  of  results  com- 
mensurate with  the  dignity  and  progress  of  the  nation. 

INTEMPERANCE. — We  sympathize  with  all  wise  and 
legitimate  efforts  to  lessen  and  prevent  the  evils  of  intem- 
perance and  promote  morality. 

PENSIONS. — Ever  mindful  of  the  services  and  sacrifices 
of  the  men  who  saved  the  life  of  the  nation,  we  pledge  anew 
to  the  veteran  soldiers  of  the  republic  a watchful  care  and 
recognition  of  their  just  claims  upon  a grateful  people. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


505 


HARRISON’S  ADMINISTRATION. — We  commend 
the  able,  patriotic  and  thoroughly  American  administration 
of  President  Harrison.  Under  it  the  country  has  enjoyed 
remarkable  prosperity,  and  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the 
nation  at  home  and  abroad  have  been  faithfully  maintained, 
and  we  offer  the  record  of  pledges  kept  as  a guarantee  of 
faithful  performance  in  the  future. 

SPREADING  THE  NEWS. 

As  news  of  the  renomination  of  President  Harrison  was 
flashed  over  the  country,  it  drew  most  favorable  comment 
from  friend  and  foe.  The  business  and  laboring  elements 
of  the  nation  were  especially  pleased  with  the  choice  of  the 
Convention.  Even  those  who  had  opposed  him  in  Conven- 
tion acquiesced  heartily  in  the  result  and  pledged  their 
efforts  to  secure  his  election.  Perhaps  President  Harrison 
himself  was  the  calmest  of  all  the  recipients  of  the  news, 
among  the  Republican  leaders.  Perfectly  dignified  and  self- 
contained,  he  stood  in  a room  of  the  White  House  amid  a 
crowd  of  distinguished  friends,  and  received  their  congratu- 
lations. A large  body  of  the  newspaper  men  of  the  Capital 
came  in  to  congratulate  and  to  get  an  expression  of  his 
views.  He,  after  persuasion,  addressed  them  in  one  of  his 
felicitous  speeches,  which  showed  the  trend  of  his  thoughts 
and  emotions  at  a time  so  important  as  the  date  of  a nom- 
ination and  the  beginning  of  a national  campaign.  He  ex- 
pressed himself  as  entirely  free  from  feeling  against  any  one, 
and  as  wishing  a campaign  without  bitterness  or  other  than 
dignified  discussion  of  the  questions  to  be  decided. 

On  June  20,  a committee  composed  of  one  from  each 
State,  appointed  by  the  Minneapolis  Convention,  and  whose 
chairman  was  Governor  McKinley,  officially  notified  Presi- 
dent Harrison,  at  the  White  House,  of  his  nomination. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


506 

Governor  McKinley’s  speech  on  this  occasion  was  a happy 
one,  and  the  reply  of  the  President  evoked  the  applause  of 
all  present,  for  apt  thought  and  felicitous  expression.  The 
President  promised  a more  formal  and  written  acceptance, 
in  a short  time. 


/ 


i 


LIFE  AND  SERVICES 

OF 

Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid, 

Republican  Candidate  for  Vice-President. 


Whitelaw  Reid,  the  Republican  Candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  was  born  in  Xenia,  Ohio,  October  27,  1837.  His 
paternal  grandfather  came  to  this  country  from  Scotland, 
toward  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  pushed  his  way  to 
Kentucky,  there  to  become  an  active  pioneer  in  the  forests 
which  embraced  the  “ Dark  and  Bloody  Ground.” 

In  the  year  1800  he  crossed  to  the  north  of  the  Ohio, 
and  took  up  ground  on  the  present  site  of  Cincinnati.  But 
a part  of  the  contract  was  that  he  should  run  the  ferry 
across  the  Ohio.  This  was  a stipulation  easily  kept  for  six 
days  in  the  week,  but  on  the  seventh  it  proved  to  be  a gall- 
ing contract,  he  being  a stern  old  Covenanter,  with  a con- 
science above  Sabbath-day  labor  and  earnings. 

His  contract  was  therefore  cancelled,  and  he  moved  to 
Greene  county,  where  he  became  a primitive  settler  in  the 
township  of  Xenia.  Here  his  son,  Robert  Carleton  Reid, 
grew  to  man’s  estate,  and  married  Mary  Whitelaw  Ronalds, 
a descendant,  in  direct  line,  of  the  Clan  Ronald,  of  the 
Scottish  Highlands. 

These  two  were  the  parents  of  Whitelaw  Reid,  our  sub- 
23  (5°9) 


5io 


WHITELAW  REID. 


ject.  An  uncle,  Hugh  McMillan,  D.  D.,  a Scotch  Cove- 
nanter and  conscientious  man,  took  the  task  upon  himself 
of  fitting  Whitelaw  for  college.  Dr.  McMillan  was  a trus- 
tee of  Miami  University  and  principal  of  the  old  and  long- 
noted  Xenia  Academy,  which  was  then  reckoned  by  the 
officers  of  Miami  the  best  preparatory  school  in  the  State. 
As  a teacher  of  classics  and  general  instructor  Dr.  McMil- 
lan had  a fine  reputation.  Under  his  instruction  his  nephew 
was  so  well  drilled  in  Latin  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years 
he  entered  Miami  as  a sophomore,  with  a Latinist  rank 
equal  to  that  of  scholars  in  the  upper  classes.  This  was  in 
1853,  and  in  1856  he  was  graduated  with  the  scientific  hon- 
ors, the  classical  honors  having  by  his  own  request  been 
yielded  to  a classmate. 

Just  after  graduation,  he  was  made  principal  of  the  graded 
schools  in  South  Charleston,  Ohio,  his  immediate  pupils 
being  generally  older  than  himself.  Here  he  taught  French, 
Latin,  and  the  higher  mathematics.  During  this  period  he 
repaid  his  father  the  expense  of  his  senior  year  in  college, 
and  returning  home  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  bought  the 
Xenia  News , and  for  two  years  led  the  life  of  a country 
editor. 

Directly  after  leaving  college  Mr.  Reid  identified  himself 
with  the  then  new  Republican  party,  and  took  the  stump  for 
John  C.  Fremont.  He  was  a constant  reader  of  the  New 
York  Tribune , and  his  own  paper,  the  News , edited  with 
vigor  and  such  success  as  to  double  its  circulation  during 
his  control  of  its  columns,  was  conducted  by  him,  as  much 
as  possible,  after  the  model  of  that  great  humanitarian  jour- 
nalist he  was  destined  to  succeed.  He  didn’t  believe  in 
State  rights,  nor  in  chattel  slavery,  and  said  so  with  a vigor 
and  variety  that  made  his  utterances  quoted  from  the  start. 
He  met  many  public  men  and  never  lost  a chance  to  talk 


WHITEbAW  REID. 


5ii 

with  them  on  the  issues  of  the  day.  He  formed  acquaint- 
ances and  made  friends. 

In  i860,  notwithstanding  his  personal  admiration  of  Mr. 
Chase,  he  advocated  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  The 
News  being  the  first  Western  newspaper  outside  of  Illinois 
to  do  so;  and  its  influence  caused  the  election  of  a Lincoln 
delegate  to  the  Republican  Convention  from  the  Xenia  dis- 
trict, thus  strengthening  the  break  in  the  Ohio  column  which 
Governor  Chase  at  the  time  so  bitterly  resented.  After  Mr. 
Lincoln’s  famous  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  New 
York  city,  and  on  his  return  to  the  West,  Mr.  Reid  went  to 
Columbus  to  meet  him,  formed  one  of  his  escort  to  Xenia, 
and  introduced  him  at  the  railroad  station  to  the  citizens. 
Subsequently  he  entered  ardently  into  the  business  of  the 
campaign,  making  speeches  and  acting  as  secretary  of  the 
Greene  County  Republican  Committee. 

His  exertions  during  the  campaign  of  i860  proved  to  be 
too  much  for  his  health,  and  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw 
from  the  political  arena  and  take  a vacation.  He  travelled 
through  the  Northwest,  visiting  the  extreme  head-waters 
of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Louis  Rivers,  and  returning  by 
way  of  Duluth. 

This  trip  meant  not  only  health  but  an  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  his  genius.  He  proved  to  be  a close  and 
accurate  observer  of  nature  and  of  social  and  political  con- 
ditions, and  a descriptive  writer  of  great  beauty  and  force. 
His  letters  to  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  were  received  with 
great  favor  by  a large  circle  of  readers,  and  they  established 
for  him  a reputation  which  made  him  a desirable  acquisition 
on  the  leading  papers  of  the  West. 

The  winter  of  1860-61  he  spent  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  as 
legislative  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Times.  His 
engagement  on  the  Times  was  followed  by  one  on  the 


512 


WHITELAW  REID. 


Cleveland  Herald  and  also  on  the  Cincinnati  Gazette , each 
at  advanced  figures.  Mr.  Reid  entered  heroically  upon 
all  three  engagements,  and  came,  thereby,  into  receipt  of  a 
handsome  income  for  a journalist  of  the  times.  But  the 
task  of  writing  daily  three  letters,  distinct  in  tone,  upon  the 
same  dreary  legislative  themes  was  a species  of  drudgery 
which  severely  tried  even  his  versatility  and  courage.  Such 
discipline,  however,  rendered  his  later  journalistic  labors 
comparatively  light  and  attractive. 

At  the  close  of  that  session  of  the  Ohio  Legislature  The 
Gazette  offered  him  the  post  of  city  editor,  and  this  posi- 
tion, so  full  of  varied  training,  he  accepted  until,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  civil  war,  McClellan,  then  a captain  in  the 
regular  army  and  stationed  at  Cincinnati,  was  sent  to  West 
Virginia.  With  this  movement,  Mr.  Reid,  by  order  of 
The  Gazette  Company,  took  the  position  of  its  war  cor- 
respondent. General  Morris  had  command  of  the  advance, 
and  Mr.  Reid,  as  representative  of  the  then  foremost  journal 
in  Ohio,  was  assigned  to  duty  as  volunteer  aide-de-camp, 
with  the  rank  of  captain.  Then  over  the  signature  of 
“ Agate  ” began  a series  of  letters  which  attracted  general 
attention  and  largely  increased  the  demand  for  The 
Gazette.  After  the  West  Virginia  campaign  terminated  in 
the  victory  over  Garnet’s  army  and  the  death  of  General 
Garnet  himself  at  Carrick’s  Ford,  on  Cheat  River,  Mr.  Reid 
returned  to  The  Gazette  office,  and  for  a time  wrote 
editorial  leaders.  He  was  sent  back  to  West  Virginia,  and 
given  a position  on  the  staff  of  General  Rosecrans.  He 
served  through  the  second  campaign  that  terminated  with 
the  battles  of  Carnifex  Ferry  and  Gauley  Bridge.  These 
battles  he  wrote  an  account  of,  and  then  returning  to  The 
Gazette  office  resumed  his  editorial  duties  and  helped 
organize  the  staff  of  correspondents  the  publishers  of  that 


WHITER  AW  REID. 


513 


journal  had  found  it  necessary  to  employ.  Fairly  estab- 
lished as  a journalist  of  much  promise,  only  brief  mention 
can  be  made  of  the  brilliant  service  which  marked  his  sub- 
sequent career  in  the  West.  In  1861-62  he  went  west  to 
follow,  as  correspondent,  the  fortunes  of  the  brilliant  cam- 
paign of  Grant  which  began  with  Fort  Donelson  and  ended 
with  Shiloh.  During  this  campaign  his  letters  were  de- 
tailed and  graphic,  and  he  easily  led  the  corps  of  war  corre- 
spondents as  respects  freshness,  accuracy  and  lucidity. 

He  was  at  Pittsburgh  Landing  with  the  advance  of  the 
army,  and  ahead  of  all  companions  of  the  press,  and  left  a 
sick-bed  to  witness  and  describe  the  terrible  battle  of  Shiloh. 
His  graphic  account  of  this  conflict  was  almost  the  only  one 
which  reached  the  newspapers  of  the  North,  and  the  ten 
columns  which  found  their  way  into  The  Gazette  in  a single 
day,  profuse  in  detail,  burning  in  descriptive  vigor,  alive  to 
all  the  horrors  of  the  situation,  stamped  him  as  a correspond- 
ent endowed  with  magnificent  powers  of  observation,  untir- 
ing zeal  and  marvellous  versatility.  Those  ten  columns  of 
The  Gazette  were  widely  copied  and  published  in  extras 
by  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  papers,  and  their  writer  was  com- 
plimented by  an  advance  in  his  already  liberal  salary. 

At  the  siege  of  Corinth  Mr.  Reid  was  appointed  chairman 
of  a committee  of  the  correspondents  to  interview  General 
Halleck  upon  the  occasion  of  the  latter’s  difficulty  with  “ the 
gentlemen  of  the  press,”  which  ended  in  their  dignified  with- 
drawal from  the  military  lines. 

Mr.  Reid  went  to  Washington  in  the  spring  of  1862,  where 
he  was  offered  the  management  of  a leading  St.  Louis  news- 
paper. On  hearing  of  this  offer  the  proprietors  of  The  Gazette 
offered  to  sell  him  a handsome  interest  in  their  establishment 
at  a fair  price.  This  he  accepted,  and  his  share  of  the  profits 
for  the  first  year  amounted  to  two-thirds  of  the  cost  and  laid 


514 


WHiliyL/AW  REID. 


the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  As  the  correspondent  of  The 
Gazette  at  the  National  Capital  he  soon  distinguished  him- 
self and  attracted  by  his  literary  and  executive  ability  the 
notice  of  Horace  Greeley,  who  from  that  time  became  his 
highly  appreciative  and  unswerving  friend.  Reid  was  an 
industrious  worker,  and  while  a political  writer  of  vigor, 
never  lost  his  knack  as  a reporter.  He  went  up  to  Gettys- 
burg when  that  fight  was  on  and  gave  a fine  description  of 
that  battle. 

A visit  to  the  South  in  1865,  as  the  companion  of  Chief- 
Justice  Chase  on  the  trip  made  by  the  latter  at  the  request 
of  President  Johnson,  resulted  in  the  production  of  Mr.  Reid’s 
first  contribution  to  literature  in  the  form  of  a book  entitled 
“ After  the  War : a Southern  Tour.”  This  book  is  a fair 
reflex  of  its  author’s  independent  and  healthful  mind  and 
practical  experience  of  men  and  things,  and  an  excellent 
record  of  the  affairs  of  the  South  during  the  years  immedi- 
ately following  the  war.  During  this  tour  the  business  of 
cotton-planting  appeared  so  remunerative  that  in  partnership 
with  General  Francis  J.  Herron  Mr.  Reid  engaged  in  it  in 
the  spring  of  1 866;  but  when  the  crop  looked  most  promis- 
ing the  army  worm  destroyed  three-fourths  of  it.  Even 
what  remained,  however,  prevented  the  loss  of  their  invest- 
ment and  induced  Mr.  Reid  to  try  his  fortune  subsequently 
in  the  same  business  in  Alabama ; but  after  two  years,  though 
not  a loser,  his  gain  was  principally  in  business  experience. 
During  these  years,  however,  he  was  otherwise  engaged  than 
in  growing  cotton.  His  “ Ohio  in  the  War,”  two  large 
volumes  of  more  than  a thousand  pages  each,  was  produced 
during  the  years  when  cotton-planting  was  his  ostensible 
business.  This  work  is  a monument  of  industry  and  a model 
for  every  other  State  work  of  the  kind.  After  the  publica- 


WHiTeLaW  kEib. 


5i5 

tion  of  this  work  Mr.  Reid  in  1868  resumed  the  duties  of 
a leader-writer  on  The  Gazette . 

On  the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson  he  went  to 
Washington  and  reported  carefully  that  transaction.  That 
summer  Mr.  Greeley  renewed  an  invitation,  two  or  three 
times  made  before,  to  Mr.  Reid,  to  connect  himself  with  the 
political  staff  of  The  Tribune.  Mr.  Reid  finally  accepted, 
and  took  the  post  of  leading  editorial  writer,  with  a salary 
next  in  amount  to  that  of  Mr.  Greeley  and  responsible 
directly  to  him.  He  wrote  many  of  the  leaders  thoughout 
the  campaign  that  ended  in  the  first  election  of  Grant. 
Shortly  afterward  a difficulty  between  the  managing  editor 
and  the  publishers  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  former, 
and  Mr.  Reid  was  installed  in  the  managing  editor’s  chair. 
In  this  advancement  he  retained  the  affection  and  unbounded 
confidence  of  his  venerated  chief,  who  since  the  withdrawal 
of  Mr.  Dana  to  make  his  venture  in  Chicago  and  then  to 
get  The  Sun , had  not  failed  to  observe  the  uncertainties  and 
dangers  attending  this  most  arduous  of  journalistic  positions. 
By  a bold  expenditure  in  1870  Mr.  Reid  surpassed  all  rivals 
at  home  and  abroad  in  reports  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war, 
and  from  that  time,  with  full  power  to  do  so,  gradually  re- 
organized and  strengthened  the  staff  of  The  Tribune . 

After  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Greeley  for  President  in  1872. 
Mr.  Reid  was  made  editor-in-chief  of  The  Tribune — an  office 
accepted  by  him  with  genuine  reluctance,  but  with  courage 
and  determination.  Untrammelled  by  tradition,  he  made 
The  Tribune  the  exponent  of  a broad  and  catholic  Ameri- 
canism. In  this  he  failed  not  to  rally  to  his  support  schol- 
arly and  sagacious  veterans  of  The  Tribune  establishment. 
After  the  disastrous  close  of  the  campaign  of  1872,  that 
which  astonished  friend  and  foe  alike  was  the  enormous 
amount  of  resources  Mr.  Reid’s  conduct  had  gained  for  him 


516 


WHITEEAW  RBID. 


in  the  shape  of  capital  freely  and  confidently  placed  at  his 
disposal.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  obtain  entire  control  of 
The  Tribune . It  was  under  his  control  that  the  new  Tribune 
building  was  erected,  and  the  paper  given  an  influence  and 
financial  worth  far  exceeding  the  Greeley  regime. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Reid  is  tall  and  straight ; the 
outlines  of  his  face  are  bold,  his  cheek  bones  are  high 
and  his  eyes  are  deeply  set.  He  is  direct  and  straightfor- 
ward in  conversation,  absolutely  true  to  his  purposes,  pa- 
tient to  the  last  degree,  but  quick  and  sure  in  action. 

On  October  26, 1881,  Mr.  Reid  married  the  accomplished 
and  handsome  daughter  of  D.  O.  Mills,  a California  million- 
aire, who  then  made  New  York  his  home.  Their  city  resi- 
dence in  New  York  is  a palatial  brown  stone  house  at  the 
corner  of  Madison  avenue  and  Fiftieth  street.  Their 
country  residence  is  at  “ Ophir  Farm,”  a magnificent  spot 
in  the  heart  of  West  Chester  county,  where  as  much  as 
$1,000,000  have  been  expended  in  the  improvement  of 
grounds  and  the  erection  of  a residence  which  excels  in 
grandeur  the  finest  mansions  of  baronial  times.  They  are 
blessed  with  two  interesting  children,  Ogden  Mills  Reid  and 
Jennie  Reid,  and  both  parents  being  of  domestic  turn,  the 
household  is  a happy  and  delightful  one. 

Mr.  Reid  has  filled  the  conspicuous  and  honorable  posi- 
tions of  President  of  the  Lotos  Club  and  Regent  of  the 
University  of  New  York  State.  As  already  said,  he  de- 
clined offers  from  Presidents  Hayes  and  Garfield  of  the 
Mission  to  Germany.  The  offer  of  President  Harrison, 
March  19,  1889,  of  the  Mission  to  France  he  accepted,  with 
a full  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  it  embraced  more  than 
ordinary  responsibilities.  His  wealth  would  enable  him  to 
grace  the  position,  but  would  his  diplomatic  knowledge 
prove  equal  to  the  delicate  task  of  effecting  what  was  ex- 


WHITELAW  REID. 


5i7 


pected  by  an  administration  bent  on  enlarging  our  foreign 
commerce  and  establishing  relations  more  intimate  than 
ever  existed  before  ? 

Fortunately  for  the  country  and  for  Mr.  Reid,  and  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  Harrison’s  administration,  he  brought  to 
bear  on  the  situation  the  highest  sagacity  and  was  enabled 
to  achieve  results  that  would  have  failed  in  less  circumspect 
hands.  By  adequate  representation  of  a great  power  at  a 
friendly  capital,  he  made  an  impression  on  the  public,  the 
press  and  the  government  of  France,  whose  great  value  is 
as  little  to  be  measured  in  precise  terms  as  its  record  is  to 
be  found  in  blue-books  and  despatches.  In  the  face  of  an 
embittered  public  opinion,  created  by  the  press  of  an  almost 
united  Europe,  he  succeeded  in  negotiating  treaties  which 
withdrew  the  barriers  against  the  importation  into  France  of 
American  pork  and  which  provided  valuable  concessions 
for  other  American  products.  These  were  services  of  an 
exalted  kind  and  their  influence  will  be  felt  for  generations. 
They  contributed  greatly  to  Mr.  Reid’s  fame  as  a skilled 
diplomat  and  enhanced  the  glory  of  the  administration  as  to 
its  vigorous  and  pronounced  foreign  policy. 

In  April,  1892,  Mr.  Reid  returned  to  this  country  and 
laid  down  the  honors  of  his  post  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary. 
He  resumed  his  control  of  the  Tribune , thoughtless  of  fur- 
ther political  honors.  But  when  the  Minneapolis  Convention 
nominated  Harrison  and  began  to  look  over  the  field  for  a 
suitable  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  his  name  and 
fame  could  not  be  overlooked.  He  had  been  welcomed 
home  by  grand  occasions  arranged  by  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  New  York,  by  the  Ohio  Society  and  by  the 
Lotos  Club.  He  was  free  from  entangling  political  alliances. 
He  was  justly  the  most  conspicuous  and  distinguished  of 
the  citizens  of  his  State.  He  was  young,  brilliant,  available. 


WHlTKtAW  REID. 


SiS 

What  so  natural  as  that  he  came  at  once  and  prominently 
into  the  mind  of  the  New  York  delegation  as  the  man  best 
fitted  to  occupy  the  place  of  Vice-Presidential  candidate. 

Therefore,  it  was  that  when  the  great  convention  assem- 
bled on  the  evening  of  June  io,  1892,  Senator  Edmund 
O’Connor,  of  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  placed  in  nomination  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  the  name  of  Whitelaw  Reid,  of  New 
York.  General  Horace  Porter  stepped  upon  the  platform 
and  seconded  the  nomination  in  an  eloquent  speech,  saying, 
among  other  things,  that  the  name  he  had  to  present  would 
command  the  respect  of  all  the  people,  being  that  of  New 
York’s  favorite  son,  a worthy  successor  to  Horace  Greeley, 
the  creator  of  modern  journalism.  General  Porter’s  speech 
was  exceedingly  well  received  and  he  was  frequently  in- 
terrupted by  applause.  When  he  closed  his  remarks  at 
9.15  o’clock  there  was  a prolonged  burst  of  cheering  that 
took  the  convention  ofif  its  feet,  and  gave  the  most  cold- 
blooded veteran  among  the  delegates  a thrill  of  contagious 
enthusiasm. 

Delegate  Settle,  of  Tennessee,  then  presented  the  name 
of  Thomas  B.  Reed,  of  Maine.  This  nomination  was  sec- 
onded by  a Kansas  delegate  amid  enthusiastic  cheering. 
Mr.  Louthan,  of  Virginia,  also  seconded  the  nomination  of 
the  ex-Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  a brief 
but  forcible  speech. 

Mr.  Reed’s  name  was  soon  withdrawn.  Then  simulta- 
neously from  the  Iowa  delegation  and  West  Virginia  dele- 
gation came  motions  that  Whitelaw  Reid  be  declared  nomi- 
nated by  acclamation,  and  amid  the  greatest  enthusiasm  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Reid  was  made  unanimous.  Then  the 
convention  gave  itself  up  to  the  most  tumultuous  cheering. 

This  nomination  brought  the  work  of  the  convention  to 
harmonious  and  satisfactory  end.  It  was  felt  that  Mr.  Reid’s 


WHITELAW  REID. 


5i9 

nomination  was  fortunate  from  every  point  of  view  and  that 
it  was  a deserved  tribute  to  literary  ability,  diplomatic  skill, 
business  integrity  and  sterling  American  manhood.  Fur- 
thermore, it  was  felt  that  by  reason  of  location  and  by  affili- 
ation with  a great  and  pure  administration,  the  names  of 
Harrison  and  Reid  would  prove  talismanic  in  the  battle  of 
1 892  for  American  industrial  supremacy *at  home  and  com- 
mercial supremacy  upon  the  seas. 

On  June  21st,  a committee  appointed  by  the  Minneapolis 
Convention  waited  on  Mr.  Reid  at  his  country  seat  to  offi- 
cially notify  him  of  his  nomination.  The  speech  of  notifi- 
cation was  made  by  Senator  Du  Bois.  Mr.  Reid’s  reply 
was  in  his  happiest  vein.  After  accepting  the  honor  ten- 
dered and  the  doctrine  propounded  in  the  platform,  he 
said : — 

“You  find  a natural  leader  in  the  eminent  public  servant, 
the  substantial  results  of  whose  wise  and  faithful  administra- 
tion furnish  such  inspiration  for  the  canvass.  I had  ex- 
pected to  find  associated  with  him  my  distinguished  friend 
who  now  adorns  the  office  of  Vice-President.  As  the  dele- 
gation of  my  State,  and  with  it  the  representatives  of  the 
party  at  large,  have  thought  it  politically  wise  to  adhere  to 
the  doctrine  of  rotation  in  office,  it  gives  me  the  right  to 
claim  not  merely  the  earnest  support  of  a united  party,  of 
which  we  are  sure,  but  the  best  counsel  and  the  most 
watchful  personal  assistance  of  all  its  faithful  and  experi- 
enced leaders  without  exception,  to  the  end  that  this  great 
commonwealth  may  again  throw  its  decisive  vote,  as  it  did 
four  years  ago,  and  indisputably  can  do  again,  on  the  Re- 
publican side. 

“ My  State,  and  I think  I may  venture  to  add  my  profes- 
sion, will  appreciate  the  manner  in  which  this  nomination 
has  been  made  and  announced,  deriving  an  added  grace  as 


520 


WHITELAW  REID. 


it  does  from  the  unanimous  vote,  from  the  character  of  this 
body  of  representative  men  from  every  section  of  our 
country. 

“ The  political  sky  is  bright  with  promise.  It  seems  a 
Republican  year,  and,  invoking  the  favor  of  Almighty  God 
upon  a cause  which  we  profoundly  believe  just,  we  may 
courageously  face  the  contest  with  the  confident  hope  of 
victory  at  the  end.” 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


OF 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland. 


I. 

PARENTAGE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Ex-President  Cleveland  sprang  from  an  old  and  dis- 
tinguished New  England  ancestry.  It  is  a line  which  is 
plentifully  interspersed  with  specimens  of  thorough  culture, 
high  intellectual  achievement,  and  true  American  instinct. 
His  father,  Richard  F.  Cleveland,  was  a Connecticut  clergy- 
man of  the  Presbyterian  denomination,  and  different  branches 
of  the  family  held  prominent  pulpit  places  in  the  Presby- 
terian, Congregational  and  Episcopalian  Churches.  They 
were  all  alike  public-spirited  men,  intensely  loyal  to  their 
convictions,  and  firmly  attached  to  our  free  institutions. 

The  President’s  immediate  ancestors  formed  a Connecti- 
cut branch  of  the  large  family.  His  great-grandfather  was 
Aaron  Cleveland,  who  lived  and  died  in  or  near  the  town  of 
Norwich,  though  born  in  East  Haddam.  He  was  a clergy- 
man of  considerable  power  and  reputation,  but  with  a turn 
for  political  life.  A large  and  admiring  constituency  gave 
him  opportunity  to  indulge  his  inclination  by  sending  him 
to  the  State  Legislature. 

(521'  * 


522 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


The  two  sons  of  Aaron  Cleveland  who  are  most  conspic- 
uously mentioned  were  Charles  and  William.  Charles 
Cleveland,  great-uncle  of  the  ex-President,  had  a daughter 
who  married  Samuel  Coxe.  Their  son,  Alfred  Cleveland 
Coxe,  became  Bishop  of  Western  New  York.  The  other 
son,  William  Cleveland,  lived  in  Norwich  most  of  his  life, 
where  he  carried  on  the  business  of  a silversmith.  At  a 
late  period  he  went  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  to  live,  that  he  might 
be  near  other  members  of  his  family  who  resided  there. 
He  died  there  in  1837. 

William’s  son,  Richard  F.  Cleveland,  and  father  of  the 
President,  was  born  in  Norwich,  Jan.  19,  1804.  He  entered 
Yale  College  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  years  and  gradu- 
ated in  1824.  He  then  went  to  Baltimore  to  teach  school, 
in  the  meantime  carrying  on  a series  of  studies  designed  to 
fit  him  for  the  ministry.  In  1828  he  was  ordained  a minis- 
ter in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  immediately  took  charge 
of  the  congregation  at  Haddam,  Conn.  While  teaching  in 
Baltimore  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a Miss  Neal,  whom 
he  married  after  he  had  been  preaching  about  a year. 

The  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cleveland  was  a man  of  high  in- 
tellectual attainments,  and  a most  devoted  student.  Study 
was  a love  beyond  any  thought  of  worldly  advancement.  In 
the  course  of  his  ministerial  work,  and  soon  after  his  mar- 
riage, he  accepted  a call  at  Caldwell,  N.  J.,  where  he  offici- 
ated for  some  years.  Thence  he  removed  to  Fayetteville, 
Onondaga  co.,  N.  Y.  After  a time  he  moved  to  Clinton, 
Oneida  co.,  and  thence  to  Holland  Patent,  in  the  same 
county,  where  he  died,  Oct.  1,  1853.  His  wife,  the  ex-Presi- 
dent’s  mother,  lived  till  July  19,  1882,  almost  long  enough 
to  see  her  illustrious  son  elected  to  the  highest  office  in  the 
gift  of  the  American  people. 

Ex-President  Cleveland  was  born  in  Caldwell.  Essex  co.. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND.  523 

N.  J.,  on  March  18,  1837.  He  was  therefore  in  the  forty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age  when  he  was  elected,  and  one  of  the 
youngest  of  our  Presidents.  He  was  named  Stephen 
Grover  Cleveland,  though  popularly  known  as  Grover 
Cleveland,  the  first  part  of  his  Christian  name  having  fallen 
into  disuse. 

He  was  the  fifth  in  a family  of  nine  children,  the  others  being 
Mrs.  Hastings,  William  N.  Cleveland,  Mrs.  Wm.  E.  Hoyt, 
Richard  C.  Cleveland,  Mrs.  N.  B.  Bacon,  Lewis  F.  Cleve- 
land, Mrs.  L.  Youmans,  and  Rose  Elizabeth  Cleveland,  the 
latter  unmarried,  a lady  of  strong  intellectual  capacity,  and 
a prominent  woman  suffrage  advocate. 

The  two-story-and-a-half  white  house  in  which  the  ex- 
President  was  born  is  still  standing.  At  the  age  of  three 
years  he  left  the  scene  of  his  birth  to  accompany  the  family 
to  their  new  home  in  Fayetteville,  N.  Y.  Here  he  grew  to 
stout  and  active  boyhood,  amid  the  advantages  then  com- 
mon to  village  life,  not  the  least  of  which  was  good  common 
schooling. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  desired  to  supplement  his  com- 
mon school  education  with  an  academic  one.  His  father 
was  somewhat  averse  to  this  step,  on  the  score  of  expense, 
and  because  he  desired  his  boys  to  become  self-supporting 
as  soon  as  possible.  Accepting  the  parental  verdict  as  final, 
the  youth  started  out  to  earn  his  own  living,  and  push  his 
own  way  in  life. 

He  entered  the  village  store  at  a salary  of  fifty  dollars  for 
the  first  year,  which  sum  was  to  be  made  one  hundred  for 
the  second  year,  in  case  he  proved  efficient.  The  boy’s 
pluck  and  energy  did  not  fail  him.  His  record  in  this 
humble  position  bespoke  the  coming  man.  It  was  one  of 
simple,  unswerving  integrity  and  untiring  loyalty  to  the  in- 
terests of  his  employer.  In  public  place,  and  in  mature 


524 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


years,  it  has  ever  been  one  of  faithful  adherence  to  deep- 
rooted  conviction  and  much-admired  devotion  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people  who  honored  him  with  their  confidence 
and  support.  The  testimony  is  unimpeachable  that  what- 
ever the  boy  found  to  do  in  the  capacity  in  which  he  was 
first  called  to  serve  he  did  with  all  his  heart,  and  that  in  the 
earliest  chapter  of  his  history  of  self-helpfulness  and  business 
independence  there  is  indelibly  written  down  a reputation 
for  bravery  of  spirit,  fidelity  to  trust,  and  candor  of  charac- 
ter, which  has  outlived  the  intermediate  years. 

The  quality  of  courage,  inherent  in  his  composition,  and 
of  ambition  to  acquire  a broader  education,  were  seconded 
by  economic  habits  ; so  that  after  a year  or  two  spent  in  the 
Fayetteville  store,  and  when  his  father  moved  to  Clinton, 
the  youth  rejoiced  in  a realization  of  his  dreams  by  being 
permitted  to  attend  the  academy  in  the  village.  Here  he 
made  rapid  progress  in  learning,  for  his  purse  was  meagre, 
and  opportunity  long  coveted  was  to  be  turned  to  speedy 
account.  His  father,  with  a large  family  to  support,  and 
only  a limited  income  to  rely  upon,  could  not  supplement 
his  efforts  to  acquire  a higher  education.  The  path  to  suc- 
cess must  be  cut  out  of  the  hard  rock  of  limited  circum- 
stances by  the  boy’s  own  ingenious  and  persevering  hand. 
Right  well  he  held  the  chisel,  and  right  well  directed  the 
stroke.  Acquisition  with  him  was  easy,  and  his  academic 
career  profitable,  though  brief.  Education  under  such  cir- 
cumstances may  not  be  so  full  as  when  plenty  of  time  and 
money  is  at  command,  but  it  is  better  appreciated,  and  often 
far  more  practical.  Moreover,  it  is  an  incentive  to  higher 
endeavor,  for  both  youth  and  manhood  are  at  their  best 
when  it  is  understood  that  the  price  of  victory  is  hard  blows 
with  the  weapons  of  one's  own  earning. 

The  breaking  up  of  the  paternal  home  in  Clinton,  by  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


vat  u 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


527 


removal  of  his  father  to  Holland  Patent,  a village  of  some 
five  or  six  hundred  people,  fifteen  miles  north  of  Utica, 
ended  his  academic  career.  In  this  new  field  the  father 
preached  but  three  Sundays,  when  death  ended  his  pastor- 
t ate.  Grover  first  heard  of  his  father’s  death  while  walking 
with  his  sister  in  the  streets  of  Utica.  The  sad  event  was 
followed  by  the  final  break-up  of  a large  family,  which  a 
loving  hand  had  held  together  and  inspired  with  a truly 
Christian  spirit.  The  children  all  sought  honorable  walks 
in  life,  and  even  those  who  have  not  found  renown  are  in 
possession  of  that  independence,  peace,  and  comfort  which 
often  count  for  more  than  fame. 

As  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cleveland  died  Oct.  I,  1853,  the  son, 
Grover,  mv,st  have  been  in  his  seventeenth  year.  Though 
young  to  brave  life  without  a father’s  counsel,  he  struck 
eastward  and  found  himself  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Here 
he  seems  to  have  been  fortunate  in  securing  a situation  as 
teacher  in  the  New  York  City  Blind  Asylum,  where  he  had 
a record  as  a devoted  instructor  and  a great  reader  and 
student.  His  tastes,  or  ambitions,  were  not,  however,  satis^- 
fied  in  this  confined  situation.  The  world  of  the  school- 
room was  not  large  enough  for  him.  There  were  other 
things  in  store,  and  he  would  seek  them.  Two  years  ended 
his  teaching  career,  and  he  started  for  the  West. 

24 


II. 


AS  A LAWYER  AND  OFFICIAL. 

The  young  man’s  westward  journey  was  without  definite 
plan,  and  even  without  destination,  except  in  so  far  as  the 
persuasions  of  a friend  had  induced  him  to  inspect  the  city 
of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  try  his  fortune  in  what  was  then  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  growthy  and  promising  cities  of 
the  West.  The  coincidence  of  the  name  with  his  own 
augured  well,  if  boyish  fancy  were  to  play  a part  in  estab- 
lishing his  fortune.  He  therefore  made  that  city  his  objec- 
tive point.  Fortunately,  he  stopped  for  a time  in  Buffalo, 
where  he  found  a maternal  uncle,  Lewis  F.  Allen,  a man 
held  in  high  esteem  in  Erie  county,  one  who  had  been 
honored  by  many  public  positions,  and  who  in  turn  had 
honored  them. 

Mr.  Allen  was  very  favorably  impressed  with  his  nephew 
and  young  adventurer.  He  persuaded  him  that  Buffalo 
offered  as  many  opportunities  for  success  as  any  more  re- 
mote place,  and  kindly  proffered  him  much  good  counsel 
and  encouragement.  Young  Grover’s  predilections  for  the 
West  were  overcome.  He  resolved  to  stay  with  his  uncle. 
Mr.  Allen  was  than  a noted  breeder  of  blooded  stock-cattle. 
His  farms  in  the  neighborhood  of  Buffalo  were  extensive, 
and  his  herds  had  a reputation  for  purity  of  quality  which 
was  not  limited  by  State  lines.  Desiring  to  perfect  his 
operations,  he  placed  young  Grover  in  charge  of  the  herd- 
books,  at  the  modest  sum  of  fifty  dollars  a year  and  found, 
but  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  look  around  him 
for  other  occupation  in  case  this  proved  irksome,  The  old 
(528) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


529 


uncle  evidently  knew  that  a young  man  with  aspirations  for 
Western  life,  and  with  ambitions  to  succeed,  could  not  be 
abruptly  switched  off  his  line  of  intent,  unless  he  himself 
largely  acquiesced  in  the  diversion. 

Besides,  the  youth  had  already  signified  his  intention  to 
make  himself  a lawyer.  This  ambition  he  soon  found 
means  to  gratify.  The  entry  of  herd  varieties,  the  noting 
of  pedigrees  for  Alderneys,  short  horns,  Durhams,  etc.,  was 
not  such  sleepy  work  as  to  close  his  eyes  to  chances  for 
getting  on,  even  though  the  location  was  two  miles  beyond 
the  centre  of  the  city.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a work 
which  gave  him  the  control  of  much  leisure.  This  he  re- 
solved to  turn  to  account. 

He  made  application  to  the  law  firm  of  Messrs.  Rogers, 
Bowen  & Rogers,  in  Buffalo,  to  be  entered  as  a student 
Success  followed  the  application.  He  had  now  the  double 
care  of  editing  an  important  stock  book  and  drinking  in  the 
lore  of  Blackstone  and  Coke  upon  Littleton.  From  farm  to 
office,  and  back,  he  walked  each  day,  winter  and  summer, 
till  he  passed  his  final  examination  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar. 

This  period  of  acquisition,  under  difficulties  which  would 
have  appalled  a youth  with  less  pluck,  served  as  a training 
time  for  the  qualities  which  were  to  round  out  the  able  prac- 
titioner and  assure  his  professional  success.  The  privations 
of  the  penniless  novitiate  were  over.  His  receptive  mind 
had  made  the  labor  of  learning  light,  and  this  was  the  one 
joy  which  had  pervaded  the  long,  difficult  and  weary 
pupilage. 

The  date  of  his  admission  to  the  bar  was  1859,  he  then 
being  in  his  twenty-third  year.  Such  was  the  confidence  of 
the  firm  in  his  ability  and  integrity  that  he  remained  with  it 
for  three  or  four  years  after  bis  admission,  He  tbns  a<Med 


530 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


to  previous  training  a large  experience  in  active  practice 
and  came  to  be  noted  for  his  close  preparation  of  cases,  his 
clear  and  forcible  method  of  statement,  and  his  untiring  ad- 
herence to  the  cause  he  espoused.  The  elements  of  growth 
which  bore  him  over  the  obstacles  of  previous  years  were 
now  lifting  him  into  honorable  competition  with  the  older 
lights  of  the  bar.  If  these  elements,  as  they  now  cropped 
out,  were  to  be  reduced  to  speech,  they  must  be  enumerated 
as  exhaustive  preparation,  stern  adhesion  to  purpose,  avoid- 
ance of  legal  quirk,  just  and  faithful  representation,  sterling 
honesty  in  details,  loyal  adhesion  to  clientage.  Back  of 
these  were  a commanding  presence,  a gracious  demeanor,  a 
fervid  style  of  eloquence,  which  bespoke  the  confidence  of 
courts  and  juries,  and  stamped  him  as  one  calculated  to  win 
as  much  through  worth  as  energy.  Says  one  of  his  early 
associates  in  Buffalo  : — “ Grover  Cleveland  won  our  admira- 
tion by  his  three  traits  of  indomitable  industry,  unpreten- 
tious courage  and  unswerving  honesty.  I never  saw  a more 
thorough  man  at  anything  he  undertook.  Whatever  the 
subject  was  he  was  reticent  until  he  had  mastered  all  its 
bearings  and  made  up  his  own  mind,  and  then  nothing 
could  swerve  him  from  his  convictions.  It  was  this  quality 
of  intellectual  integrity  more  than  anything  else  perhaps, 
that  made  him  afterwards  listened  to  and  respected  when 
men  with  greater  dash  and  brilliancy  who  were  opposed  to 
him  were  applauded  and  forgotten.” 

In  1863,  the  honors  which  could  not  long  be  withheld 
from  a man  of  his  solidity  of  character  and  pronounced  pro- 
fessional status,  fell  upon  him  in  the  shape  of  a call  to  the 
position  of  Assistant  District  Attorney  of  Erie  county.  The 
call  came  at  the  instance  of  his  associates  at  the  bar,  who 
had  united  in  a recommendation  which  was  almost  unani- 
mous. This  was  the  true  beginning  of  his  public  career, 


CS212r*  i 


Hon.  William  C.  P.  Breckinridge. 


Born  August  28,  1837,  at  Lexington,  Ky.  ; graduated  at  Centre 
College,  Danville,  April  26,  1855;  studied  law  in  Law  Department  of 
University  of  Louisville,  and  graduated  February  27,  1857 ; admitted  to 
bar  and  engaged  in  profession  at  native  place ; elected  to  49th,  50th, 
51st  and  52d  Congresses,  as  a Democrat,  to  represent  Seventh  Kentucky 
District ; distinguished  as  an  able  orator  and  parliamentarian ; member  of 
Committee  on  Appropriations  and  State  Department  Expenditures. 

( 53*) 


GROV-ER  CLEVELAND. 


533 


It  is  significant  that  it  had  an  origin  in  a confidence  which 
was  widely  diffused,  and  untrammeled  by  creed  or  politics. 
It  was  an  unquestioned,  unlimited  confidence,  such  as  goes 
out  only  to  those  whose  manhood  is  their  guarantee  of  free- 
dom from  belittling  influences  and  false  actions.  He  was  a 
Democrat,  and  had  passed  from  boyhood  to  manhood  as 
such.  But  while  imbued  with  lively  party  convictions  and 
given  to  earnest  advocacy  of  vital  party  tenets,  he  never 
stooped  to  the  use  of  questionable  methods,  and  never  for- 
got for  a moment  the  proper  attitude  of  parties  toward  the 
State,  the  nation,  and  the  institutions  which  inlay  and  over- 
shadow all.  There  was  no  asperity  in  his  politics,  and  none 
of  that  narrow,  intense  partyism  which  estranges  friends, 
sanctions  corrupt  practices,  or  refuses  to  see  any  good  in 
men  and  things  outside  of  clannish  limits.  In  the  hour  of 
war  he  placed  country  before  party.  In  the  hour  of  peace 
he  recognized  the  uses  of  party  as  legitimate  and  purifying, 
provided  partyism  did  not  run  away  with  and  pervert  honor- 
able and  acceptable  methods. 

For  all  of  the  above  reasons,  his  associates  at  the  bar  and 
the  citizens  of  his  town  found  it  fitting  to  honor  him  with 
his  first  public  trust.  While  serving  in  the  capacity  of 
Assistant  District  Attorney  he  was  drafted,  and  promptly 
furnished  a substitute.  His  career  in  this  office  extended 
over  a period  of  three  years.  How  acceptably  he  had 
served  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  received  the  nomina- 
tion of  his  party  for  the  position  of  District  Attorney  in 
1865.  His  opponent  on  the  Republican  ticket,  Lyman  K. 
Bass,  was  successful,  after  a spirited  contest,  in  which  Mr. 
Cleveland  showed  himself  much  stronger  than  his  party. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1 866,  he  formed  a law  partnership 
with  the  late  J.  V.  Vanderpool,  which  continued  till  January, 
1869.  It  then  ended  by  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Vanderpool 


534 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


to  fill  the  position  of  Police  Justiceship  to  which  he  had 
been  elected.  After  this  dissolution  a new  law-firm  was 
formed,  known  as  Laning,  Cleveland  and  Folsom,  the  head 
of  it  being  Hon.  A.  P.  Laning,  State  Senator.  While  in  this 
firm  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  a lucrative  practice  he  was 
called  upon  to  serve  again  in  a public  capacity.  This  time 
it  was  as  Sheriff  of  Erie  county.  The  office  is  not  usually 
regarded  as  one  requiring  more  than  average  ability  to  fill 
it,  nor  does  it  ordinarily  open  a field  for  the  exercise  of  very 
high  or  commanding  qualities.  But  in  this  instance,  not 
only  the  Democratic,  but  a conspicuous  factor  in  the  Re- 
publican party,  had  an  object  to  accomplish  which  could  be 
done  in  no  other  way  and  through  no  other  agency.  Gross 
favoritism  and  glaring  corruption  had  crept  into  the  admin- 
istration of  the  office.  The  management  had  become  an 
offense  to  every  element  of  justice  and  defiant  of  every  re- 
form remedy.  The  majority  of  the  dominant  party  in  the 
county  was  usually  large,  running  from  three  to  six  thousand. 
Democracy  alone  had  a poor  show  to  correct  crying  evils. 
It  was  only  by  putting  up  a man  for  the  place  whose  char- 
acter was  in  itself  a guarantee  of  the  reforms  demanded  that 
they  could  hope  to  draw  the  Republican  contingent  neces- 
sary to  secure  his  election.  Their  choice  fell  on  Grover 
Cleveland  as  the  man  for  the  emergency.  He  would  neces- 
sarily have  to  make  a great  personal  and  professional  sacri- 
fice if  he  succeeded,  but  he  was  a man  who  shrank  from  no 
consideration  of  expediency  when  a great  public  interest 
had  to  be  subserved.  The  purification  of  a pest-house  dis- 
turbs the  stereotyped  order  of  things  and  puts  society  and 
individuals  to  much  present  discomfort.  But  the  general 
good  must  be  consulted,  and  he  is  not  a hero  who  refuses 
to  second  every  effort  to  further  the  sanative  and  social  wel- 
fare of  his  community. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


535 


Full  of  this  laudably  sacrificial  spirit  and  with  the  deter- 
mination to  introduce  marked  and  lasting  reforms  into  a po- 
sition whose  status  had  been  shamefully  lowered,  he  stood 
for  the  election,  and  was  flatteringly  successful.  His  admin- 
istration was  what  was  expected  of  a man  of  his  integrity 
and  firmness.  He  broke  up  corrupt  practices,  wiped  out 
the  shame  which  clouded  the  office  and  gave  to  execution 
of  county  affairs  a new  direction  and  more  significant  mean- 
ing. He  showed  that  dignity  could  be  made  to  crown  the 
actions  of  an  official,  even  though  the  office  was  that  of 
sheriff!  The  object  of  his  election  was  fully  met  by  his 
vigor  and  straightforwardness.  At  the  end  of  his  term  he 
returned  the  office  to  the  majority  party  as  a model  piece 
of  county  machinery  and  an  evidence  of  what  reforms  could 
be  achieved  if  officials  would  only  keep  in  view  the  best  in- 
terests of  those  they  are  called  upon  to  serve.  His  admin- 
istration was  not  forgotten  in  Buffalo.  The  man  for  this 
emergency  would  prove  the  man  for  others,  when  the  need 
should  become  equally  great. 

His  election  to  the  sheriffalty  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1869 
His  acceptance  put  an  end  to  his  partnership  in  the  law-firm 
of  Laning,  Cleveland  and  Folsom.  At  the  expiration  of  his 
official  term  he  had  to  look  around  for  other  connections. 
Soon  a partnership  was  formed  with  Lyman  K.  Bass,  his  old 
opponent  in  the  race  for  District  Attorney,  and  Wilson  S. 
Bissell,  the  firm  being  known  as  that  of  Bass,  Cleveland  and 
Bissell. 

He  was  now  back  on  favorite  professional  ground,  after  a 
diversion  which  had  brought  into  conspicuous  view  his  mas- 
terly executive  qualities  and  familiarized  the  Western  end 
of  the  State  with  an  administration  whose  vigor  was  only 
surpassed  by  its  purity.  In  a short  time  Mr.  Bass  removed 
from  Buffalo  and  the  law-firm  became  Cleveland,  Bissell  and 


536 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Sicard.  It  took  rank  at  once  as  among  the  foremost,  if  not 
the  foremost,  in  Western  New  York,  a reputation  which  was 
secured  and  maintained  by  the  large  acquaintance,  high 
standing,  and  recognized  legal  ability  of  the  head  of  the 
firm.  Their  office  was  in  spacious  and  prominent  quarters 
on  Main  street,  where  each  member  had  his  own  library, 
consulting  room  and  other  facilities  for  carrying  on  the 
different  branches  of  their  rapidly  growing  business.  Cleve- 
land and  Bissell  were  both  very  large  men  physically,  and 
they  were  often  jokingly  called  the  heavy  weights  of  the 
firm.  Both  were  dignified  and  affable  in  demeanor,  and 
aside  from  their  reputation  as  sound  and  successful  lawyers, 
were  calculated  to  attract  a large  clientage  and  inspire  it 
with  the  utmost  confidence. 

In  this  partnership  Mr.  Cleveland  regarded  himself  as 
settled  for  life.  Success  was  crowning  his  efforts  and  grati- 
fying his  ambitions.  He  has  been  heard  to  say  that  he  was 
content  with  his  partners  and  his  practice.  Had  he  been 
left  with  them,  he  need  never  have  entertained  a fear  that  his 
merits  would  have  been  overlooked  by  the  great  public,  nor 
that  all  the  rewards  of  industry,  honesty,  and  ability  would 
have  failed  to  cluster  in  his  path. 

Says  one  who  was  well  acquainted  with  him  at  this  pe- 
riod : “ It  was  while  thus  associated  that  Grover  Cleveland 
achieved  his  distinction  as  a lawyer  second  to  few  in  the 
Western  part  of  the  State  for  legal  acumen  and  intellectual 
honesty.  His  jury  and  bench  trials  were  distinguished  by 
clear  views,  direct,  simple  logic,  and  a thorough  mastery  of 
all  the  intricacies  of  the  cases,  and  his  invariable  avoidance 
of  extrinsic  issues  and  purely  technical  devices  secured  for 
him  the  respect  of  his  own  profession  and  the  admiration  of 
the  public.” 


III. 


MAYOR  OF  BUFFALO. 

Destiny  forbade  a long  continuance  of  this  smootlhy  run- 
ning tide.  Municipal  politics  in  Buffalo  had  assumed  a 
shape  repugnant  to  the  better  citizens  of  both  parties.  Pow- 
erful rings  existed  which  partitioned  offices  and  their  spoils 
and  perpetuated  themselves  with  autocratic  certainty  and 
audacity.  Ingenious  and  corrupting  cliques  in  both  parties 
conspired  to  plunder  and  divide.  Perhaps  the  city  was  not 
unlike  others  in  this  respect,  except  as  to  the  enormity  of 
the  evil,  and  the  difficulty  of  a hopeful  attack  upon  it.  He 
must  possess  more  than  ordinary  bravery  and  tenacity  of 
purpose  who  ventured  to  deal  the  first  blow  at  a situation 
turreted  with  power  and  manned  by  skilled  political  manip- 
ulators. Redemptory  effort,  to  be  effective,  must  come  from 
a source  above  all  suspicion,  must  be  as  persistent  as  a forge- 
hammer,  and  regardless  of  consequences  so  far  as  they  af- 
fected persons,  parties  or  questions  of  sheer  expediency. 
All  during  the  year  1 88 1 the  cry  for  local  reform,  which  it 
was  well  understood  could  only  come  by  political  revolution, 
went  up.  Was  there  a man  in  the  midst  popular  enough  to 
place  experiment  beyond  reach  of  failure  ? Was  there  one 
indomitable  enough  to  venture  into  the  dens  where  the  lions 
of  power  divided  and  devoured  their  dark  and  secret  con- 
quests ? 

It  seemed  that  there  was  one.  His  party  singled  him  out, 
at  least  the  true  men  of  his  party.  The  true  men  of  die 
Republican  party  said  he  was  the  man  of  all  others  best  cal- 
culated to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  difficult  situation. 

(537) 


538 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


They  heartily  seconded  his  selection,  and  joined  hands  with 
a will  to  give  him  a triumph  at  the  polls.  In  a Republican 
stronghold,  and  against  combinations  which  reached  far 
toward  the  centre  of  his  own  party,  he  was  chosen  Mayor 
by  5,000  majority;  running  far  in  advance  of  the  State 
ticket.  If  the  election  were  a testimonial  to  his  fortitude, 
integrity  and  popularity,  unexampled  in  Buffalo  history,  or 
even  in  the  history  of  the  State,  what  must  the  net  results 
of  his  administration  stand  for?  November,  1 88 1 , was 
morning  in  a city  whose  politics  had  been  a Cimmerian 
midnight. 

His  mayoralty  was  in  the  exact  line  of  that  pronounced 
sentiment  to  which  he  owed  the  honors  of  his  election.  It 
fully  justified  the  expectations  that  were  created  by  his  well- 
known  character  and  previous  public  record.  The  nomina- 
tion had  come  to  him  unsought  and  undesired,  the  election 
by  that  spontaneity  which  ever  marks  a great  popular  and 
tidal  resolve,  and  prints  its  meaning  so  that  even  he  that 
runneth  cannot  mistake  it. 

The  man  and  his  methods  were  now  to  stand  the  test. 
He  was  happily  untrammeled  in  his  choice  of  the  latter. 
His  own  good  judgment  was  to  be  his  criterion.  This 
judgment  had  been  greatly  widened  and  strengthened  by 
his  practice  at  the  bar,  and  his  ample  opportunities  to  study 
men  and  political  ways  and  measures.  As  to  aught  else 
there  was  no  fear,  for  his  turn  was  executive,  his  nature 
sterling  and  invincible.  He  was  his  own  counsellor.  With 
characteristic  industry  he  passed  the  first  weeks  after  elec- 
tion in  studying  the  details  of  every  department  of  the  city 
administration  and  mapping  a programme  from  which  there 
should  be  no . departure  either  under  vituperation  or 
applause. 

His  inaugural  address  sounded  the  key-note  of  adminis  - 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


539 


tration.  “ We  hold/’  said  he,  “ the  money  of  the  people  in 
our  hands,  to  be  used  for  their  purposes  and  to  further  their 
interests  as  members  of  the  municipality,  and  it  is  quite  ap- 
parent that,  when  any  part  of  the  funds  with  which  the  tax- 
payers have  thus  intrusted  us  are  diverted  to  other  pur- 
poses, or  when,  by  design  or  neglect,  we  allow  a greater 
sum  to  be  applied  to  any  municipal  purpose  than  is  neces- 
sary, we  have  to  that  extent  violated  our  duty.  There 
surely  is  no  difference  in  his  duties  and  obligations,  whether 
a person  is  intrusted  with  the  money  of  one  man  or  many. 
And  yet  it  sometimes  appears  as  though  the  office-holder 
assumes  that  a different  rule  of  fidelity  prevails  between  him 
and  the  taxpayers  than  that  which  should  regulate  his  con- 
duct, when,  as  an  individual,  he  holds  the  money  of  his 
neighbor.” 

Such  was  the  great  need  of  reform  in  the  city,  the  despera- 
tion of  the  battle  to  be  fought,  the  explicit  character  of  his 
pledges,  the  firmness  of  the  man,  the  curiosity  to  note  the 
outcome  of  the  administrative  struggle,  that  both  parties 
throughout  the  entire  State  looked  on  Buffalo  and  its 
mayoralty  as  a prime  part  of  a political  drama,  whose 
further  enactment  in  municipal  high  places  for  their  purifi- 
cation and  enlightenment  should  depend  on  its  success 
where  first  introduced.  The  Buffalo  reform  movement  was 
to  be  not  only  for  Buffalo,  but  it  was  to  be  a criterion  by 
which  all  municipal  reforms  were  to  be  graduated,  after 
which  all  should  pattern,  through  which  all  should  derive 
hope  and  encouragement. 

It  is  not  in  stations  of  glittering  magnitude  that  men  are 
put  to  the  severest  tests.  “ The  qualities,”  says  Socrates, 
“ that  fit  a man  to  rule  a city,  fit  him  to  rule  an  empire.” 
Indeed,  it  is  true  that  public  responsibility  is  deepest,  and 
official  worth  most  radically  tested,  the  nearer  the  office  lies 


54© 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


to  the  people.  This  is  what  makes  municipal  government 
such  a delicate  and  difficult  thing.  The  fortitude,  the 
knowledge  of  men  and  situations,  the  integrity,  the  states- 
manlike grasp,  which  are  necessary,  in  a municipal  execu 
tive,  to  assure  pure  and  acceptable  administration,  are  no 
more  largely  required,  and  certainly  never  so  constantly 
called  into  active  requisition,  where  the  executive  is  even 
that  of  a State  or  nation. 

Scarcely  had  he  launched  his  administration  when  it  drew 
the  concentrated  fire  of  his  political  enemies.  The  City 
Council  was  against  him,  with  its  love  of  jobbery  and  adhe- 
sion to  practices  he  would  uproot  and  discard.  The  old 
rings  encircled  him,  either  to  gather  him  into  deceptive  em- 
brace or  crush  him  in  their  deadening  coils.  A street- 
cleaning contract,  as  immense  as  it  was  iniquitous,  went 
through  the  Council.  It  was  the  grand  opportunity  of  the 
pilfering  politician  to  enrich  himself  and  friends.  It  was  a 
type  of  the  jobs  which  had  impoverished  the  city  and 
brought  its  administration  into  discredit.  It  was,  moreover, 
the  kind  of  enactment  which  cemented  municipal  influence 
and  made  it  hazardous  to  his  popularity  for  an  executive 
officer  to  crush  it  with  his  veto.  But  the  veto  came,  and  in 
this  instance  promptly  and  with  telling  effect.  It  was  as  if 
a bomb  had  suddenly  burst  in  the  midst  of  the  plunderers. 
“ This  is  a time,”  said  he,  in  his  veto  message,  “ for  plain 
speech,  and  my  objection  to  your  action  shall  be  plainly 
stated.  I regard  it  as  the  culmination  of  a most  barefaced, 
impudent  and  shameless  scheme  to  betray  the  interests  of 
the  people  and  to  worse  than  squander  the  public  money. 
We  are  fast  gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of  public 
stewardship.  There  is  no  middle  ground.  Those  who  are 
not  for  the  people  either  in  or  out  of  your  honorable  body, 
are  against  them,  and  should  be  treated  accordingly.” 


Hon.  George  Graham  Vest. 

Born  at  Frankfort,  Ky.,  December  6,  1830;  graduated  at  Centre  Col- 
lege, Ky.,  1848,  and  at  Law  Department  of  Transylvania  University, 
1853;  same  year  moved  to  Missouri  and  began  practice  of  law;  Presi- 
dential Elector  on  Democratic  ticket,  1860 ; member  of  Missouri  Legis- 
lature, 1860-61 ; served  for  two  years  as  member  of  Confederate 
Congress,  and  one  year  in  Confederate  Senate;  elected  to  U.  S. 
Senate,  as  a Democrat,  1879;  re-elected  1885  and  1890;  member  of 
Committees  on  Transportation,  Commerce,  Judiciary,  Public  Buildings 
and  Grounds,  and  Quadro  Centennial. 

(541) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


543 


The  people,  who  knew  their  man  before,  now  knew  him 
better.  In  fact,  his  political  enemies  knew  him  quite  too 
well.  He  was  not  the  stuff  that  tricksters  and  cowards  are 
made  of,  but  the  sterling  metal  which  enters  into  men  coined 
and  stamped  for  great  occasions.  His  action  was  received 
with  the  greatest  favor  by  his  party  friends,  and  by  the 
friends  of  purity  and  decorum  throughout  the  county  and 
State.  It  was  a harbinger  of  other  victories  far  more  sig- 
nificant, and  an  earnest  that  municipal  reform  was  at  last 
within  reach  of  a long  aggrieved  people.  He  was  heralded 
far  and  wide  as  the  strong,  incorruptible,  invincible  hero  of 
an  emergency  before  which  others  had  quailed  and  fell. 
The  results  of  this  single  veto  to  the  city  were  of  incal- 
culable benefit.  Its  moral  effect  was  felt  in  every  depart- 
ment. The  political  atmosphere  was  freshened.  From  an 
economical  standpoint,  the  saving  was  immense.  Under  a 
subsequent  ordinance,  and  the  contracts  based  on  it,  the 
work  was  done  for  $100,000  less  money  than  at  first  pro- 
posed. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  the  exemplification  of  Grover 
Cleveland’s  fortitude,  integrity,  and  wonderful  executive 
ability,  to  go  into  painstaking  and  tedious  details  of  his 
mayoralty.  We  understand  why  he  was  chosen  and  what 
was  expected  of  him.  A thousand  instances  of  heroic  and 
timely  application  of  the  power  with  which  he  was  vested 
would  not  magnify  the  importance  of  the  verdict  of  approval 
which  awaited  the  closing  hours  of  his  administration.  Nor 
would  such  serve  to  further  illuminate  those  qualities  of 
manhood  he  was  now  seen  to  possess  in  a degree  which 
astounded  and  overawed  his  opponents.  Yet  mention  must 
be  made  of  his  second  struggle  with  the  powerful  and  cor- 
rupting influences  about  him.  This  was  a job  to  build  a 
large  connecting  sewer.  The  issue  was  sharply  joined,  the 


544 


SROVER  CLEVELAND. 


contention  bitter.  The  mayor’s  pluck  and  earnestness  won, 
and  his  second  victory  was  far  more  significant  than  the 
first.  It  saved  $ 800,000  to  the  city.  Altogether  the  first 
six  months  of  his  administration  saved  to  the  city  an  amount 
estimated  at  $1,000,000.  This  magnificent  aggregate  might 
be  safely  doubled,  if  the  entire  term  of  his  mayoralty  were 
to  be  considered.  True,  the  rings  were  daunted  and  never 
rallied  to  other  audacious  attacks  on  the  treasury,  yet  the 
mayor  found  frequent  uses  for  his  veto  power  in  order  to 
preserve  the  position  he  had  won  and  drive  home  on  his  op- 
ponents the  wholesome  effects  of  his  reformatory  teaching. 
Not  a single  ordinance  was  ever  passed  over  his  veto.  His 
veto  messages  were  models  of  directness  and  exactness. 

We  search  American  political  annals  in  vain  for  an  ex- 
ample of  municipal  administration  so  vigorous,  effective  and 
productive  of  permanent  good,  as  that  which  Grover  Cleve- 
land gave  to  Buffalo.  His  comprehension  of  a delicate  and 
difficult  situation,  his  mastery  of  details,  his  development  of 
an  executive  policy,  his  firm  yet  dignified  command  of  the 
powers  at  his  disposal,  his  persistent  following  up  of  every 
advantage  gained,  and  finally  his  turning  of  the  government 
back  to  the  people,  washed  as  to  its  shame  and  purified  as 
to  its  corruption,  constitute  a chapter  in  his  life  whose 
reading  is  inspiriting  to  both  old  and  young,  and  whose  con- 
templation ought  to  be  a source  of  pride  to  any  man,  no 
matter  with  what  high  honors  his  after  life  was  crowned. 
Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  he  had  made  no  quest  of  the 
honors  of  office.  No  election  fanfaronade  attended  his  can- 
didacy. No  single  act  of  self-glorification  or  self-advance- 
ment entered  into  his  ministrations.  A good  and  true  man 
found  a trust  to  be  executed  in  a plain,  honest,  faithful,  in- 
dustrious way.  The  way  was  that  of  the  people,  and  they 
neither  failed  to  remember  nor  to  thank  and  honor.  While 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


545 


a local  constituency  were  ringing  the  plaudit,  “ Well  done, 
thou  good  and  faithful  servant ! ” the  people  of  an  entire 
State  were  getting  ready  to  say,  “ Come  up  unto  higher 
places  and  honors.” 

While  yet  mayor,  and  in  the  spring  of  1882,  he  had  occa- 
sion to  testify  to  the  American  spirit  regnant  within  him  as 
presiding  officer  of  a mass-meeting  called  to  take  action  on 
the  case  of  Irish-Americans  then  aggrieved  by  English 
tyranny  and  actually  suffering  from  imprisonment  in  Ireland. 
As  is  well  known,  our  foreign  policy  was  regarded  as  too 
feeble  to  reach  these  cases  and  to  make  American  citizen- 
ship respected  abroad.  Our  minister  to  England  seemed  to 
be  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  those  naturalized  Irishmen  who, 
on  a visit  to  their  native  land  and  on  natural  expression  of 
sympathy  with  their  long-suffering  countrymen,  had  fallen 
into  the  category  of  suspects,  and  had  been,  without  hear- 
ing, deprived  of  their  liberty  by  incarceration  in  British 
bastiles.  Neither  did  there  seem  to  be  a sentiment  at  home 
sufficiently  pronounced  to  demand  the  rights  indubitably 
attached  to  the  name  of  American.  The  Buffalo  meeting 
was  one  of  protest  against  a policy  of  weakness  and  timidity 
on  the  part  of  our  government.  It  was  directly  in  the  interest 
of  our  citizens  of  foreign  birth.  One  who  had  not  their 
cause  at  heart,  a mere  politician  with  selfish  aims,  or  with 
fears  for  his  popularity,  a trimmer  for  place  and  without 
character  or  substantial  convictions,  might  have  remanded 
such  a matter  to  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washington,  or 
complacently  declined  to  interfere  with  a question  which 
concerned  only  a fraction  of  our  populace.  But  Mayor 
Cleveland  was  as  ready  to  stand  as  the  representative  of 
American  citizenship  in  its  broadest  and  fullest  significance 
as  to  throttle  corruption  in  his  adopted  city.  As  chairman 
of  this  meeting,  he  pointed  out,  from  a strictly  legal  and 


546 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


constitutional  standpoint,  and  with  a clearness  and  precision 
which  always  characterized  his  presentation  of  pleas,  the 
common  right  of  native-born  and  adopted  citizens  of  this 
country  to  protection  from  the  Government  at  Washington 
the  world  over.  Then,  proceeding  in  a strain  of  earnest  and 
impassioned  eloquence,  which  captured  every  hearer,  he 
enunciated  the  following  doctrine,  which,  if  incorporated  as 
an  American  citizen  plank  into  a political  platform,  any 
candidate  for  even  so  high  an  office  as  President  might  be 
proud  to  stand  upon : 

“ It  needed  not  the  statute  which  is  now  the  law  of  the 
land,  declaring  that  ‘ all  naturalized  citizens  while  in  foreign 
lands  are  entitled  to  and  shall  receive  from  this  Government 
the  same  protection  of  person  and  property  which  is  accorded 
to  native-born  citizens,’  to  voice  the  policy  of  our  nation. 
In  all  lands  where  the  semblance  of  liberty  is  preserved,  the 
right  of  a person  arrested  to  a speedy  accusation  and  trial 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  a fundamental  law,  as  it  is  a rule  of 
civilization.  At  any  rate,  we  hold  it  to  be  so,  and  this  is 
one  of  the  rights  which  we  undertake  to  guarantee  to  any 
native-born  or  naturalized  citizen  of  ours,  whether  he  be  im- 
prisoned by  order  of  the  Czar  of  Russia  or  under  the  pretext 
of  a law  administered  for  the  benefit  of  the  landed  aristoc- 
racy of  England.  We  do  not  claim  to  make  laws  for  other 
countries,  but  we  do  insist  that  whatsoever  those  laws  may 
be,  they  shall,  in  the  interests  of  human  freedom  and  the 
rights  of  mankind,  so  far  as  they  involve  the  liberty  of  our 
citizens,  be  speedily  administered.  We  have  a right  to  say, 
and  do  say,  that  mere  suspicion  without  examination  on 
trial  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  long  imprisonment  of  a 
citizen  of  America.  Other  nations  may  permit  their  citizens 
to  be  thus  imprisoned — ours  will  not.  And  this  in  effect 
has  been  solemnly  declared  by  statute.  We  have  met  here 
to-night  to  consider  this  subject  and  to  inquire  into  the  cause 
and  the  reasons  and  the  justice  of  the  imprisonment  of 
certain  of  our  fellow-citizens  now  held  in  British  prisons  with- 
out the  semblance  of  a trial  or  legal  examination,  Our  law 


m,  i.zz 


Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard. 

Born  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  October  29,1828;  educated  at  Flushing 
School;  studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar  in  1851;  appointed  District 
Attorney  for  Delaware,  1853;  elected  to  United  States  Senate,  1869; 
re-elected,  1875  and  1881;  member  of  Electoral  Commission,  1876;  in 
Democratic  National  Convention,  1880,  received  153J  votes  as  candidate 
for  President;  in  Convention  of  1884,  received  170  votes  on  first  ballot; 
chosen  Secretary  of  State  by  President  Cleveland  in  1885,  and  served 
during  Cleveland  Administration ; distinguished  as  an  able  official,  an 
eloquent  orator,  ready  debater,  and  pure-minded  statesman  of  conserva- 
tive mold;  has  lived  in  retiracy  since  March,  1889. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


549 


declares  that  the  Government  shall  act  in  such  cases.  But 
the  people  are  the  creators  of  the  Government.  The  un- 
daunted apostle  of  the  Christian  religion,  imprisoned  and 
persecuted,  appealing  centuries  ago  to  the  Roman  law  and 
the  rights  of  Roman  citizenship,  boldly  demanded,  ‘ Is  it 
lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a man  that  is  a Roman  and  un- 
condemned ? ’ So,  too,  might  we  ask,  appealing  to  the  law 
of  our  land  and  the  laws  of  civilization,  ‘ Is  it  lawful  that 
these  our  fellows  be  imprisoned  who  are  American  citizens 
and  uncondemned ?’” 


25 


GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK. 


In  1882  the  political  situation  in  New  York  State  was 
peculiar.  The  Republican  managers  had  nominated  a ticket 
from  Governor  down,  which  did  not  reflect  the  sentiment 
of  their  party.  It  was  believed  to  be  directly  in  the  interest 
of  President  Arthur,  and  to  be  his  attempt  to  assume,  or 
rather  retain,  control  of  the  party  machinery  in  the  State. 
Further,  the  methods  resorted  to  in  convention,  in  order  to 
secure  the  nomination  of  favorites,  were  regarded  as  unfair 
and  dishonorable.  They  were  tricks,  whose  results  were 
bound  to  recoil  on  their  perpetrators.  There  was  a revolt 
all  along  the  line,  and  a determination  to  rebuke  a procedure 
which  savored  of  corruption  and  punish  the  principals  who 
expected  to  find  preferment  in  a resort  to  it. 

Democratic  candidates  were  not  wanting  who  were  anx- 
ious to  take  advantage  of  the  situation.  They  saw  in  Re- 
publican schism  an  opportunity  for  triumph  which  was 
tempting  to  every  adventurer.  But  the  wiser  heads  of  the 
party  saw  further  than  this.  And  without  disparagement  to 
the  older,  it  must  be  said  that  the  younger  elements  of  the 
party  composed  to  a large  extent  these  wiser  heads.  They 
saw  that  the  Republican  candidates — especially  Mr.  Folger, 
candidate  for  Governor — were  personally  unobjectionable, 
and  that  the  protest  was  not  so  much  against  men  as  against 
the  ring  methods  which  secured  their  nomination  and  the 
objects  to  be  gained  by  such  nominations.  They  also  saw 
that  a weak  and  frivolous  Democratic  nomination,  one  made 
on  the  pretext  that  anybody  could  be  elected,  would  only 
(550) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


551 


serve  to  drive  back  the  protesting  Republicans  into  the 
deserted  ranks  and  endanger  the  entire  situation.  Again, 
they  saw  that  in  order  to  add  emphasis  to  the  protest  they 
must  present  in  their  candidate  an  assurance  that,  if  elected, 
a perfectly  pure  State  administration  would  ensue.  The 
opportunity  they  saw  was  not  one  for  a mere  man ; but  for 
their  party,  the  people,  the  entire  State.  They  knew  full 
well  the  difficulties  attending  gubernatorial  administration  in 
New  York,  the  traps  and  pitfalls  laid  for  honest  men,  the 
temptations  to  go  astray,  the  impossibilities,  one  may  say, 
of  a perfectly  straight  official  career,  unless  the  incumbent 
should  come  clad  in  tried  armor. 

In  looking  over  the  interesting  situation,  the  eyes  of  the 
party  naturally  turned  to  Grover  Cleveland.  In  many 
respects  the  State  outlook  was  like  that  which  preceded  his 
call  to  the  mayoralty  of  Buffalo.  At  any  rate,  they  saw  in 
the  man  who  was  winning  the  encomiums  of  both  parties 
for  his  straightforward,  impartial,  and  business-like  municipal 
administration,  the  candidate  they  wanted  for  the  highest 
office  in  the  State.  His  was  a character  above  suspicion  at 
the  start,  and  one  which  would  bear  closest  scrutiny  even 
under  the  calcium  light  of  a campaign.  He  had  been  tried 
in  the  severest  of  crucial  fires,  and  no  element  of  a success- 
ful executive  had  been  found  wanting.  He  was  known,  too, 
within  and  without  his  party.  All  in  all,  Cleveland  presented 
in  himself  and  in  his  record  the  very  guarantee  the  Democ 
racy  desired  for  themselves,  and  also  to  offer  to  the  Re- 
publicans. So  he  was  placed  on  their  ticket  as  candidate 
for  governor  against  Mr.  Folger,  one  of  the  best  known  men 
in  the  State,  and  one  of  the  ablest. 

The  campaign  was  an  interesting  one  from  the  beginning. 
The  missiles  of  the  enemy  flew  thick  and  fast,  but  failed  to 
wound  01  even  hit  the  Democratic  nominee.  He  grew 


552 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


stronger  and  stronger  from  the  very  day  of  his  nomination 
The  enthusiasm  his  name  kindled  in  his  own  party  held  it 
to  a strict  allegiance  and  drew  an  overflowing  support. 
Study  of  his  character  by  the  protesting  Republicans,  and 
favorable  knowledge  of  him,  both  as  a man  and  official, 
attracted  thousands  directly  to  his  standard  and  led  other 
thousands  to  show  their  preference  for  him  over  their  own 
nominee  by  silent  acquiescence.  Both  parties,  in  the  State 
and  nation,  were  astounded  at  the  result.  It  could  hardly 
be  called  popular  election — it  was  rather  popular  revolution. 
Never  was  the  wisdom  of  a nomination  so  emphatically 
vindicated.  Never  did  the  American  people  voluntarily 
tender  so  lavish  an  ovation  to  one  whom  they  honored  and 
trusted.  His  vote  was  535,318,  against  342464  for  his  op- 
ponent, leaving  him  a plurality  of  192,854,  and  a clear 
majority  over  all  opposition  of  155,097.  The  height  of  the 
wave  which  bore  the  new  Governor  from  his  home  in  the 
extreme  western  part  of  the  State  to  the  capital  in  the  ex- 
treme eastern  part,  and  which  strewed  hills  and  valleys 
with  Republican  wreckage,  was  unprecedented  in  political 
history. 

The  movement  which  made  him  governor,  like  that  which 
had  made  him  mayor,  was  not  of  his  origination.  The  office 
had  in  both  instances  sought  the  man,  as  it  should  do  in  a 
republic,  and  as  it  ever  will  do  where  purely  unselfish  ad- 
ministration is  expected.  Nor  had  he  stooped  to  favor  his 
chances  df  election.  He  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people^ 
and  his  cause  was  their  cause. 

He  was  inaugurated,  without  any  ostentatious  display,  on 
the  first  Tuesday  of  January,  1883.  He  thoroughly  under- 
stood the  political  situation,  and  speedily  addressed  himself 
to  the  reforms  which  he  knew  were  expected  of  him.  His 
inaugural  was  brief,  forcible  and  happy — the  duplicate 


iift  l Mil  tU 

;j, - j 


Hon.  Charles  S.  Fairchild. 


Born  in  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  April  30,  1842;  graduated  at  Harvard, 
1803 ; studied  law  at  Harvard  Law  School  and  admitted  to  bar,  1865 ; 
practiced  for  several  years  in  firm  of  Hand,  Hale,  Swartz  & Fairchild; 
elected  Attorney  General  of  New  York,  as  Democrat,  1876;  settled  in 
New  York  city,  1880,  and  practiced  law ; appointed  Assistant  Secretary 
of  Treasury  by  President  Cleveland  in  1885 ; succeeded  Daniel  Manning 
as  Secretary  of  Treasury,  April  1,  1887 ; an  able  lawyer  and  financier, 
and  conspicuous  Democratic  leader  in  New  York. 

(554) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


$55 


of  the  man  in  vigor  and  sincerity.  It  meant  business. 
Touching  the  civil  service  of  the  State,  he  said: 

“ Subordinates  in  public  place  should  be  selected  and  re- 
tained for  their  efficiency,  and  not  because  they  may  be  used 
to  accomplish  partisan  ends.  The  people  have  a right  to 
demand  here,  as  in  cases  of  private  employment,  that  their 
money  be  paid  to  those  who  will  render  the  best  service  in 
return,  and  that  the  appointment  to  and  tenure  of  such 
places  should  depend  upon  ability  and  merit.  If  the  clerks 
and  assistants  in  public  departments  were  paid  the  same 
compensation  and  required  to  do  the  same  amount  of  work 
as  those  employed  in  prudently  conducted  private  establish- 
ments, the  anxiety  to  hold  these  public  places  would  be  much 
diminished  and  the  cause  of  civil-service  reform  materially 
aided.  The  expenditure  of  money  to  influence  the  action  of 
the  people  at  the  polls  or  to  secure  legislation  is  calculated  to 
excite  the  gravest  concern.  When  this  pernicious  agency 
is  successfully  employed  a representative  form  of  gov- 
ernment becomes  a sham,  and  laws  passed  under  its  baleful 
influence  cease  to  protect,  but  are  made  the  means  by  which 
the  rights  of  the  people  are  sacrificed  and  the  public  treasury 
despoiled.  It  is  useless  and  foolish  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  this  evil  exists  among  us,  and  the  party  which  leads 
in  an  honest  effort  to  return  to  better  and  purer  methods 
will  receive  the  confidence  of  our  citizens  and  secure  their 
support.  It  is  willful  blindness  not  to  see  that  the  people 
care  but  little  for  party  obligations,  when  they  are  invoked 
to  countenance  and  sustain  fraudulent  and  corrupt  practices. 
And  it  is  well  for  our  country  and  for  the  purification  of 
politics  that  the  people,  at  times  fully  roused  to  danger,  re- 
mind their  leaders  that  party  methods  should  be  something 
more  than  a means  used  to  answer  the  purposes  of  those 
who  profit  by  political  occupation.” 


The  first  acts  of  an  executive  calculated  to  invite  attention 
and  criticism,  as  well  as  to  foreshadow  the  policy  of  his  ad- 
ministration, are  his  appointments  to  office.  There  is  no 


556 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


public  duty  so  delicate,  none  in  which  mistakes  recoil  so 
quickly.  It  must  be  set  down  to  Governor  Cleveland’s 
credit  that  his  first  appointments  were  made  with  rare  good 
judgment.  Political  friend  and  foe  indorsed  them  as  the 
wisest  selections  possible,  and  saw  at  once  in  them  an  earnest 
of  the  kind  of  administration  they  had  hoped  for  and  been 
led  to  expect. 

Two  places  were  of  peculiar  importance — that  of  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Works  and  Commissioner  of  the  New 
Capitol.  Public  money  had  been  running  through  these 
like  water  through  a sieve.  They  were  centres  of  immense 
patronage  and  power,  and  were  consequently  much  coveted 
by  those  who  would  use  them  for  political  purposes.  Both 
offices  employed  hundreds  of  men.  For  each  of  them 
Governor  Cleveland  selected  a man  fitted  by  practice  and 
special  knowledge  to  do  the  required  work.  They  were 
both  outspoken,  square-dealing  experts  in  the  business  they 
were  called  upon  to  conduct.  After  their  appointment  the 
ugly  rumors  of  corruption  which  formerly  centred  about 
their  places  were  hushed,  and  the  people  were  satisfied  that 
order  and  economy  prevailed  where  once  all  was  confusion, 
extravagance  and  distrust. 

All  other  appointments  were  characterized  by  the  same 
independence  and  close  discernment  of  fitness  and  charac- 
ter. In  so  far  as  these  acts  could  contribute  to  energy  and 
purity  of  administration,  it  was  manifest  that  Governor 
Cleveland  was  bound  to  prove  an  exceptional  executive, 
that  he  had  within  him  a probity,  fearlessness  and  business 
address  before  which  the  better  sentiment  of  the  State  must 
bow  with  respect. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  escaped  the  vulgar  crit- 
icism of  those  who  could  not  use  him  for  their  ambitious 
and  corrupt  purposes.  No  great,  unselfish,  direct,  single- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


557 


purposed  man  can  act  either  his  business  or  political  part 
without  incurring  the  opposition,  and  even  inviting  the  cen- 
sure, of  the  smaller  and  narrower  herd  who  delight  in  dis- 
traction and  feed  on  enmities.  The  measure  of  admiration 
for  Governor  Cleveland,  while  a candidate  before  the  Chicago 
Convention,  was  well  expressed  by  a prominent  delegate 
who  said,  “ I love  the  man  for  the  enemies  he  has  made.” 
It  is  not  complimentary  to  our  political  society  to  feel  that 
true  greatness  is  often  an  invitation  for  envious  discrimina- 
tion and  malignant  attack.  Yet  we  fear  it  must  be  accepted 
as  true  that  those  virtues  which  we  most  seek  and  prize  in 
public  men  are  the  very  ones  whose  persistent  exercise  pro- 
voke the  bitterest  hostility  of  the  tricky  and  unconscionable 
few.  Out  of  the  million  voters  of  the  Empire  State,  only  a 
modicum  of  mere  trading  politicians  chose  to  withhold  their 
admiration  for  Governor  Cleveland’s  energetic  and  business- 
like policy,  as  foreshadowed  and  proved  by  his  executive 
appointments.  He  showed  in  them  all  a keen  analysis  of 
character  and  a knowledge  of  official  fitness  which  were  in 
the  highest  degree  complimentary.  In  every  instance  the 
result  proved  the  wisdom  of  his  choice,  and  in  no  respect 
has  his  administration  been  more  powerfully  vindicated. 

In  attention  to  the  details  of  legislation  Governor  Cleve- 
land proved  himself  constant,  guarded  and  thoughtful.  His 
messages,  models  of  terseness  and  vigor,  were  laden  with 
clear-cut,  practical  advice,  so  that  even  the  most  wayward 
could  not  mistake  his  spirit  and  meaning.  It  may  well  be 
questioned  whether  any  State  administration  ever  crowded 
into  so  brief  a space  so  many  substantial  and  far-reaching 
reforms.  And  what  is  more  worthy  of  note,  this  monu- 
mental work  was  marred  in  but  few  places  by  idle,  irrelevant 
and  impracticable  legislation,  owing  to  his  watchfulness  and 
free  use  of  the  veto  power. 


55S 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Perhaps  his  administration  was  expected  to  achieve  most 
in  the  way  of  reforms  in  the  government  of  New  York  city. 
If  judged  by  their  extent  and  importance,  it  was  wonderfully 
successful,  and  too  much  credit  cannot  be  given  the  execu- 
tive through  whose  agency  they  were  effected.  In  urging 
and  fostering  them  he  had  to  combat  an  element  in  his  own 
party,  which  had  all  along  been  defiant  of  interference. 
But  the  seven  reform  bills  relating  to  the  city  went  through 
and  received  his  approval  all  the  same.  The  autocratic 
power  of  the  old  Board  of  Aldermen  was  smashed,  the 
princely  incomes  of  county  officers  were  cut  down  to  re- 
spectable salaries,  the  political  atmosphere  was  purified,  a 
freer  and  better  ballot  was  promised.  No  more  difficult  task 
ever  lay  before  an  executive.  He  was  compelled  to  brave 
an  opposition  at  once  political  and  personal,  clamorous  and 
slanderous,  malignant  and  threatening.  He  never  swerved 
for  a moment,  but  went  right  on.  Let  it  be  written  that 
what  fifty  years  of  effort  on  the  part  of  a score  of  governors 
failed  to  achieve  for  New  York  city  was  accomplished  by 
Governor  Cleveland  in  a single  year  of  energetic,  fearless 
and  consistent  administration. 

The  general  features  of  his  administration  were  no  less 
acceptable  to  the  people  and  creditable  to  the  man  and  of- 
ficial. He  vetoed  the  “ Five-Cent-Car-Fare-Bill,”  of  which 
veto  the  New  York  Tribune  said  : — 

“ The  message  containing  his  reasons  for  so  doing  is 
straightforward  and  forcible,  and  we  believe  will  be  pro- 
nounced sound  by  most  of  those  who  have  been  strenuous 
in  their  demands  for  a reduction  of  fares  on  the  elevated 
roads.  His  objections  to  the  measure  are  of  a serious 
nature.  He  argues  that  to  suffer  it  to  become  a law  would 
mean  the  impairment  of  the  obligation  of  a contract,  involv- 


GROVkR  CLEVELAND.  55^ 

ing  a breach  of  faith  and  a betrayal  of  confidence  by  the 
State.” 

He  vetoed  the  “ Mechanic’s  Lien  Bill,”  a carelessly  drawn 
bill,  ostensibly  in  the  interest  of  the  working  man,  but  as  he 
showed  in  his  veto  message,  really  in  the  interest  of  lawyers 
and  court-hangers-on.  The  gist  of  the  veto  was  as  follows : — 
“ The  bill  repeals  in  distinct  terms  a number  of  mechanics’ 
lien  laws,  including  one  specially  applicable  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  I notice  two  features  which  I think  objection- 
able enough  to  warrant  me  in  declining  to  sign  it.  First,  it 
gives  all  parties  having  claims  four  months  after  performance 
of  work  or  furnishing  of  material  to  file  a lien.  Second,  it 
allows  on  proceedings  to  enforce  the  lien  the  same  costs  as 
in  foreclosure  cases.  This  would  be  quite  onerous,  and,  I 
think,  should  not  be  allowed.” 

He  vetoed  the  “ Twelve-Hours-Bill,”  which  was  designed 
to  limit  the  day  of  street  car  employes  to  twelve  hours.  His 
reasoning  was  thus  : — 

“ It  is  distinctly  and  palpably  class  legislation,  in  that  it 
only  applies  to  conductors  and  drivers  on  horse  railroads. 
It  does  not  prohibit  the  making  of  a contract  for  any  number 
of  hours’  work,  I think,  and  if  it  does,  it  is  an  interference 
with  the  employes’  as  well  as  employers’  rights.  If  the  car- 
drivers  and  conductors  work  fewer  hours  they  must  receive 
less  pay,  and  this  bill  does  not  prevent  that.  I cannot  think 
that  this  bill  is  in  the  interest  of  the  workingman.” 

The  Public  Worship  bill  was  one  granting  permission  to 
the  Catholic  clergy  to  hold  services  at  the  House  of  Refuge, 
on  Randall’s  Island.  This  bill  he  never  vetoed.  It  only 
passed  one  branch  of  the  Assembly,  and  therefore  never 
reached  the  Governor.  Of  the  Catholic  Protectory  bill,  his 
failure  to  approve  which  was  harshly  used  against  him,  there 
can  be  but  one  opinion.  It  appropriated  #30,000  to  improve 


560 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


the  sewerage  of  the  Catholic  Protectory,  built  by  the  church 
in  Westchester  county  for  the  reception  and  reform  of  young 
men  and  women  sent  there  by  magistrates  of  the  surround- 
ing counties.  The  laws  of  the  State  prevented  the  use  of 
public  moneys  for  sectarian  uses.  The  fate  of  the  bill  would 
have  been  the  same  had  the  institution  been  Presbyterian, 
Methodist,  Baptist,  Episcopalian,  or  that  of  any  other 
denomination.  He  was  merely  keeping  his  oath  to  observe 
and  execute  the  laws. 

Much  account  was  made  at  the  time  of  his  veto  of  the 
“ Tenure  of  Office  Bill.”  The  fact  is  the  bill  was  glaringly 
defective,  and  the  most  pronounced  friends  of  the  bill  ad- 
mitted as  much  after  its  defects  were  pointed  out  in  the  veto 
message. 

Such  is  the  peculiarity  of  executive  function  that  of  the 
hundreds  of  bills  signed  and  which  enure  to  the  general 
good  we  hear  nothing.  It  is  those  which  are  vetoed  which 
damn  or  praise  an  executive,  because  these  are  the  ones 
which  embrace  some  current  thought,  too  often  the  outcrop 
of  passion,  or  too  frequently  the  embodiment  of  something 
evanescent.  It  must  be  conceded  that  no  executive  ever 
made  freer  use  of  the  veto  power  than  Governor  Cleveland. 
But,  all  in  all,  his  use  of  the  veto  power  proved  discreet  and 
was  sanctioned  by  intelligent  popular  approval.  His  mes- 
sages were  all  well-studied,  clear-cut  papers,  evidences  of 
exhaustive  analysis  of  measures  and  deep  research  respect- 
ing them,  and  assurances  of  the  most  impartial  motive  and 
deepest  rectitude  of  intention.  Judged  by  his  vetoes  alone, 
his  administration  not  only  attracted  the  widest  approval 
but  stood  unparalleled  for  its  vigor  and  consistency.  A 
feeble  man,  one  without  the  true  executive  instinct,  would 
have  quailed  before  corrupting  pressure  or  unreasoning 
clamor,  and  often  given  sanction  to  measures  which  his 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


561 


inner  conscience  disapproved.  But  Grover  Cleveland  moved 
on  a highly  conscientious  plane,  regardless  of  partisan  appeal, 
brutal  threat  or  slanderous  arrow,  never  counting  the  bear- 
ing his  conduct  might  have  on  his  personal  or  political 
fortune,  apparently  bound  only  to  the  discharge  of  a duty 
he  owed  to  the  whole  people.  There  is  observable  at  every 
turn  of  his  executive  career  stern  adhesion  to  the  cardinal 
principles  that  preserved  and  honored  his  youth  and  gave 
him  a firm  foothold  among  his  fellow-citizens  as  an  humble 
attorney.  His  scrutiny  of  every  bill  was  close,  and  attended 
with  a sharp  legal  insight.  As  he  had  been  his  own  coun- 
sellor while  mayor,  so  he  was  really  his  own  Attorney- 
General  while  Governor.  His  vetoes  stood  every  test  ap- 
plied to  them,  and  not  one  rejected  bill  was  passed  over  his 
protest.  Many  bills  were  returned  because  improperly  and 
loosely  drawn.  These,  when  amended  so  as  to  be  no  longer 
inconsequential  or  mere  deadwood  accumulations  on  the 
statute  books,  he  afterwards  approved.  Whether  in  signing 
bills  or  rejecting  them  he  bestowed  a diligence,  patience, 
and  competent  inquiry  which  have  elicited  the  warmest 
esteem  of  the  fair-minded  people  of  the  State.  They  looked 
upon  him  as  a strong,  determined,  unselfish  man  in  whom, 
as  executive,  there  was  full  security.  It  was  this  very  sense 
of  security  that  put  him  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as 
candidate  for  President,  and  made  him  so  successful  a 
nominee. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  his  tenacity  of  principle  and 
disregard  of  consequences  made  him  indifferent  or  conserva- 
tive. On  the  contrary  he  was  ever  alive  to  surroundings, 
watchful  of  the  movements  of  public  sentiment,  and  at  the 
front  as  a progressist,  whether  the  column  was  political,  so- 
cial or  moral.  The  Civil  Service  Act  for  the  State  of  New 
York,  a miniature  of  the  system  soon  after  adopted  by  thq 


I 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


& 

General  Government,  received  his  unqualified  sanction. 
Of  the  same  spirit  were  the  Reform  bills  for  New  York  city, 
and  numberless  others  to  mention  which  would  be  tiresome 
and  unprofitable. 

The  personal  and  business  habits  of  Grover  Cleveland  as 
governor  were  those  the  public  were  to  become  more  fa- 
miliar with  in  higher  station.  The  “bachelor  governor” 
as  he  was  then  facetiously  called  was  of  height  above  the 
average,  broad-shouldered  and  commanding,  with  a decided 
tendency  toward  corpulency.  His  face  was  regular,  clear 
cut,  strong  and  handsome.  It  was  then,  and  for  reasons 
the  reader  will  readily  appreciate,  still  more  now  a paternal 
face,  being  reserved  yet  genial,  firm  yet  kind,  dignified  yet 
not  distant.  His  business  manner  was  and  is  brusque  yet 
simple,  precisely  that  required  for  promptitude  and  dispatch. 
His  social  mood  is  pleasing  and  assuring  after  the  formali- 
ties of  introduction.  When  not  pressed  with  business  care 
he  is  open  to  all  comers,  and  the  rag-picker  and  the  prince 
find  his  hand  equally  extended.  Notwithstanding  his  avoir- 
dupois he  is  of  nervous  temperament,  and  by  dint  of  study 
and  self-control  finds  himself  easy  in  society  and  calm  in 
emergency.  His  complexion  is  neither  ruddy  nor  light,  his 
hair  is  brown,  slightly  inclined  to  gray,  and  his  massive, 
shapely  head  begins  to  plead  guilty  to  baldness.  When 
governor,  he  was  a persistent  walker,  and  made  the  distance 
of  half  a mile  between  his  residence  and  the  capitol,  daily  on 
foot,  both  ways.  As  President  this  was  turned  into  horse- 
back riding. 

During  the  whole  term  of  his  gubernatorial  career,  he  was 
the  subject  of  persistent  misrepresentation  by  the  Tammany 
organization  of  New  York  city.  That  organization  tried  to 
use  him  for  its  purposes,  and  in  more  than  one  instance 
courted  hostility.  But  it  never  succeeded  in  drawing  the 


Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar. 

Born  in  Putnam  co.,  Ga.,  September  1,  1825  ; graduated  at  Emory  Col- 
lege, 1845  ; admitted  to  Macon  bar,  1847 ; professor  in  Univ.  of  Mississippi, 
1849  ; resumed  practice  of  law  in  Covington,  Ga. ; elected  to  Georgia 
Legislature,  1853-54;  returned  to  Mississippi  and  settled  on  plantation 
in  Lafayette;  elected  to  Congress,  1857-1859;  resigned  to  take  seat  in 
Secession  Convention ; entered  Confederate  army ; after  war,  elected 
professor  in  Mississippi  University;  re-elected  to  Congress,  1872  and 
1874;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  1877;  selected  Secretary  of  Interior  by 
President  Cleveland,  1885  ; appointed  a Judge  of  U.  S.  Supreme  Court, 
1887. 


(563) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


565 


broad-minded  and  astute  governor  within  its  toils.  In  the 
instance  of  Senator  Grady,  the  pressure  became  so  strong 
that  the  governor  was  forced  to  establish  publicly  his  posi- 
tion. This  he  did  in  a letter  which  reads  as  follows : — 

Executive  Chamber,  Albany,  October  20,  1883. — Hon. 
John  Kelly — My  dear  Sir : It  is  not  without  hesitation  that 
I write  this.  I have  determined  to  do  so,  however,  because 
I see  no  reason  why  I should  not  be  entirely  frank  with  you. 
I am  anxious  that  Mr.  Grady  should  not  be  returned  to  the 
next  Senate.  I do  not  wish  to  conceal  the  fact  that  my 
personal  comfort  and  satisfaction  are  involved  in  this  matter. 
But  I know  that  good  legislation,  based  upon  a pure  desire 
to  promote  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  the  improvement 
of  legislative  methods  are  also  deeply  involved.  I forbear 
to  write  in  detail  of  the  other  considerations  having  relation 
to  the  welfare  of  the  party  and  the  approval  to  be  secured 
by  a change  for  the  better  in  the  character  of  its  represen- 
tatives. These  things  will  occur  to  you  without  sugges- 
tion from  me. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

No  comment  on  this  is  needed,  except  that  somebody  mis- 
took Governor  Cleveland’s  unalterable  purpose  to  have 
“ good  legislation  ” and  “ improvement  of  legislative 
methods  ” in  New  York  city  as  well  as  elsewhere. 


/ 


1 


/ 


J 


V. 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1884. 

Long  before  the  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Convention,  July 
8,  1884,  indications  pointed  to  Governor  Cleveland  as  the 
proper  Democratic  nominee  for  President.  The  political 
situation  was  such  as  to  make  New  York  a pivotal  State  in 
the  Presidential  contest.  His  fame  as  an  executive  had 
gone  abroad  in  the  land.  He  had  the  prestige  of  unprece- 
dented majority  in  his  favor  when  he  carried  off  the  honors 
of  Governor.  He,  more  than  any  other  man  spoken  of,  was 
the  embodiment  of  all  the  great  qualities  which  combined 
in  the  formation  of  an  ideal  leader.  He  typed  the  instincts 
and  sentiments  of  a younger  Democracy  who  loved  his  in- 
dependence of  character,  his  sterling  methods,  his  sublime 
mastery  of  circumstances.  He  stood  for  what  the  older 
Democracy  most  cherished,  adherence  to  patriotic  tradition, 
plain,  common  sense  devotion  to  principle,  economic  and 
business-like  execution  of  high  official  trust.  There  was 
only  one  ripple  in  the  current  running  toward  his  nomina- 
tion. That  was  occasioned  by  the  Tammany  pebble  at  the 
bottom  of  the  stream.  There  the  stream  murmured,  but 
ran  rapidly  on,  its  murmur  a laugh. 

The  convention  was  thoroughly  representative  of  the 
Democratic  party.  As  the  presiding  officer,  Col.  William 
F.  Vilas,  said, — “ The  convention  was  the  greatest  and  most 
magnificent  council  of  freemen  ever  assembled  on  the  face 
of  God’s  round  globe.  For  three  days  it  listened  to  a 4 pro- 
found debate  from  the  greatest  speakers  in  the  country’ 
upon  the  various  candidates,  and  the  point  of  order  was 
(566) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


567 


justly  raised  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  rules  governing  the 
convention  to  thus  discuss  the  candidates,  but  it  was  unani- 
mously voted  by  the  convention  that  the  freest  discussion 
should  be  permitted,  in  order  to  develop  all  the  facts  obtain- 
able. The  debate  of  three  days  left  no  doubt  in  the  minds 
of  the  delegates  as  to  whom  the  choice  of  the  convention 
should  be.” 

It  was  particularly  noteworthy  that  amid  all  the  caucus- 
ing for  rival  candidates,  amid  the  arguments  educed  for 
favorites  from  respective  States  and  sections,  amid  the  formal 
presentation  of  names  to  the  convention,  no  Democratic 
orator  of  high  and  unquestioned  standing  in  his  party  ever 
spoke  a derogatory  word  of  Governor  Cleveland  or  ex- 
pressed a doubt  of  the  propriety  and  fitness  of  his  nomina^ 
tion.  It  is  equally  noteworthy  that  the  magic  of  his  name 
was  such  as  to  hold  his  State  delegation  as  a unit  and  turn 
every  malignant  attempt  to  break  it  into  an  argument  and 
inspiration  in  his  behalf. 

At  3.55  p.  m.  of  July  9,  1884,  Mr.  Lockwood,  New  York, 
took  the  platform  to  place  in  nomination  the  name  of 
Grover  Cleveland.  He  did  this  in  an  eloquent  speech,  in 
which  he  said : — - 

“ The  responsibility  which  he  felt  was  made  greater  when 
he  remembered  that  the  richest  pages  of  American  history 
had  been  made  up  from  the  records  of  Democratic  adminis- 
trations, and  remembered  that  the  outrage  of  1876  was  still 
unavenged.  No  man  had  a greater  respect  than  he  for  the 
honored  names  presented  to  the  convention,  but  the  world 
was  moving,  and  new  men,  who  had  participated  but  little 
in  politics,  were  coming  to  the  front.  Three  years  ago  he 
had  the  honor  in  the  city  of  Buffalo  to  present  the  name  of 
the  same  gentleman  for  the  office  of  Mayor.  Without  hesi- 
tation the  name  of  Grover  Cleveland  had  been  accepted  as 
the  candidate.  [Applause  in  fhe  galleries  and  delegations.] 


568 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


“ The  result  of  that  election  and  of  the  holding  of  that 
office  was  that  in  less  than  nine  months  the  State  of  New 
York  found  itself  in  a position  to  want  such  a candidate, 
and  when  in  the  Convention  of  1882  his  name  was  presented 
for  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  the 
same  class  of  people  knew  that  that  meant  honest  govern- 
ment ; that  it  meant  pure  government ; that  it  meant  Demo- 
cratic government,  and  it  was  ratified.  Now  the  State  of 
New  York  came  and  asked  that  there  be  given  to  the  Inde- 
pendent and  Democratic  voters  of  the  country — the  young 
men  of  the  country,  the  new  blood  of  the  country — the 
name  of  Grover  Cleveland.” 

The  nomination  was  eloquently  seconded  by  Harrison  of 
Illinois  and  Jones  of  Minnesota. 

The  first  ballot  was  had  on  the  night  of  the  10th.  The 
friends  of  Governor  Cleveland  had  computed  his  strength 
at  397  votes.  Their  count  proved  to  be  exceedingly  close, 
for  as  the  ballot  showed  he  commanded  392  votes.  His 
opponents  were  such  illustrious  men  as  Thomas  F.  Bayard, 
Joseph  E.  McDonald,  John  G.  Carlisle,  Allen  G.  Thurman, 
Samuel  J.  Randall,  George  E.  Hoadley  and  George  A.  Hen- 
dricks. 

On  the  second  ballot  he  easily  forged  ahead  of  all  oppo- 
nents and  obtained  683  votes  out  of  a total  of  820,  with 
547  to  nominate.  The  motion  to  make  his  nomination 
unanimous  was  carried  without  dissent.  The  news  of  Gov- 
ernor Cleveland’s  nomination  was  received  with  demonstra- 
tions of  delight  by  the  Democratic  party  and  by  the  inde- 
pendent element  of  the  Republican  party.  Party  newspapers 
in  general  spoke  of  it  as  a hopeful  and  proper  political  step. 
Large  ratification  meetings  were  improvised  in  city  and 
village,  at  which  great  enthusiasm  prevailed,  and  from  which 
proceeded  hearty  endorsement  of  the  convention’s  action. 
What  is  known  as  the  independent,  or  bolting  Republican 


Ifct  titfiUSf 

OF  T8E 

KS’ailiY  .v  M 


Hon.  William  C.  Whitney. 


Born  in  Conway,  Mass,,  July  15,1841;  graduated  at  Yale,  1863; 
graduated  at  Harvard  Law  School,  1865;  continued  study  of  law  in 
New  York  city  and  admitted  to  bar  there ; prominent  member  of 
Young  Men’s  Democratic  Club;  conspicuous  for  activity  against 
'*  Tweed  Ring;  ” Inspector  City  Schools,  1872 ; candidate  of  Reformed 
Democracy  for  District  Attorney  and  defeated ; appointed  Corporation 
Counsel  for  New  York  city,  1876-80;  reputed  to  have  saved  the  city 
large  sums  by  resisting  fraudulent  claims  ; resigned  office,  1882 ; ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  Navy  by  President  Cleveland,  March  5,  1885;  re- 
ceived degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Yale,  1888;  advocate  of  a new  navy,  and 
made  this  a conspicuous  feature  of  his  administration. 

(57°) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


57i 


press,  was,  if  anything,  more  encomiastic  than  the  regular 
Democratic  press. 

Papers  like  the  New  York  Times , the  Evening  Post , Har- 
per's Weekly  and  Philadelphia  Ledger  echoed  the  following 
sentiment,  copied  from  the  last  named  : 

“ Governor  Cleveland  has  shown  through  the  whole  of 
his  life,  private  and  public,  from  boyhood  to  his  present  dis- 
tinction, that  he  has  the  sterling  qualities  befitting  the 
exalted  office  of  Chief  Executive  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  the  highest  function  of  that  office  to  administer  the  laws 
with  an  eye  single  to  the  public  welfare.  Our  Government 
has  been  tersely  described  as  ‘ of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people.’  No  eminent  public  man  has  exhibited 
a better  understanding  of  that  definition  of  the  American 
government  than  Grover  Cleveland ; none  has  exemplified 
it  better  than  he  has  in  his  performance  of  public  duty,  and 
but  few,  very  few  indeed,  have  exemplified  it  so  well.  His 
guiding  characteristics  have  been  loyalty  to  duty,  courage 
in  the  discharge  of  it,  and  the  best  and  most  faithful  per- 
formance of  it  within  his  power.  These  are  strong  words ; 
strong  because  they  are  true.” 

Governor  Cleveland  received  the  news  of  his  nomination 
with  entire  equanimity.  He  had  not  shown  himself  ambi- 
tious of  the  honors,  had  done  nothing  directly  to  secure 
them.  They  came  as  a free-will  offering,  and  by  virtue  of 
a record  made  in  the  path  of  duty.  He  would  not  have 
been  disappointed  had  the  Convention  in  its  wisdom  seen  fit 
to  similarly  honor  some  one  else.  Yet  he  did  not  shirk  the 
responsibilities  which  he  knew  were  inseparable  from  can- 
didacy, nor  fail  to  announce  himself  as  gratified  with  his 
political  preference. 

The  nomination  of  Governor  Cleveland  for  the  Presidency 
was  fittingly  followed  in  Convention  by  the  nomination  of 
that  sterling  old  Democrat,  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of  Indi- 
26 


572 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


ana,  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  These  two  made  a ticket 
which  proved  a source  of  inspiration  to  the  party.  Even  if 
it  at  first  failed  to  awaken  the  enthusiasm  provoked  by  the 
Republican  leaders,  Blaine  and  Logan,  it  had  better  staying 
powers.  Geographically  it  was  a tower  of  strength,  for  Mr. 
Cleveland  represented  the  fighting-ground  in  the  East, 
while  Mr.  Hendricks  represented  it  in  the  West.  Both 
candidates  were  thus  at  an  advantage  which  it  would  require 
more  than  personal  magnetism  and  campaign  clatter  on  the 
part  of  opponents  to  overcome. 

The  Convention  backed  up  these  able  candidates  with  an 
admirable  platform,  and  the  campaign  of  1884  was  duly 
opened.  Cleveland  and  Hendricks  had  not  only  to  con- 
tend with  the  Republican  nominees,  who  were  both  strong 
and  brilliant  campaignists,  backed  by  a party  which  had 
won  victories  for  twenty-four  years  and  with  all  the  patron- 
age of  the  government  in  its  control,  but  with  that  veteran 
campaignist,  B.  F.  Butler,  who  headed  the  Labor  ticket,  and 
St.  John,  who  headed  the  Prohibitionists.  The  campaign 
at  first  took  a vicious,  personal  turn,  but  this  diversion  soon 
spent  its  force  and  the  more  serious  questions  involved  came 
to  the  surface.  At  this  point  Cleveland’s  reform  record 
in  New  York  came  mightily  to  his  aid.  His  career  had 
been  brief,  to  be  sure,  but  it  had  also  been  one  of  consistency 
and  persistency,  and  admiration  for  it  proved  a wall  which 
could  not  be  shaken  by  the  enemy’s  batteries.  He  held 
his  party  throughout  one  of  the  most  heated  campaigns 
known  to  American  history,  and  his  strength  was  con- 
stantly augmented  by  accessions  from  the  Republican 
ranks,  all  of  whom  claimed  to  see  in  him  the  embodiment 
of  the  reform  spirit  which  seemed  to  be  abroad  in  the  land. 
In  the  very  last  stages  of  what  every  political  observer  felt 
to  be  a desperate  battle,  when  the  scales  of  victory  were 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


573 


tipping  now  this  way  and  now  that,  the  Republican  candi- 
date tried  the  effect  of  his  powerful  personalism  directly  on 
New  York  State,  to  which  the  contest  had,  by  common 
consent,  narrowed.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  inquire  how 
much  this  attempt  was  worth,  nor  whether  it  lost  or  won 
the  battle.  Speculation  is  out  of  place  in  the  face  of  figures. 
The  official  returns  of  New  York  showed  a plurality  of 
1,047  votes  for  Cleveland  and  Hendricks,  which  assured 
them  twenty  out  of  the  thirty-eight  States,  a majority  of 
thirty-seven  votes  in  the  electoral  college  and  a popular 
vote  of  4,911,017,  as  against  4,848,334  for  Blaine  and 
Logan. 

It  thus  passed  to  the  credit  of  Grover  Cleveland  that  he 
headed  the  ticket  which  won  the  first  Presidential  victory 
for  his  party  in  twenty-four  years,  and  that,  too,  against  the 
one  man  whom  the  Republican  party  claimed  to  be  invin- 
cible. Not  only  this,  the  victory  was  a political  revolution 
which  even  enthusiasts  of  his  own  party  thought  to  be  im- 
possible a few  months  before,  so  strongly  were  the  Repub- 
licans entrenched  in  power  and  so  skilful  were  they  in  party 
manipulation. 

But  while  the  national  election  brought  to  Cleveland, 
Hendricks  and  the  Democratic  party  a great  victory,  it 
brought  also  a responsibility  which  the  party  had  never 
before  been  called  upon  to  meet,  for  not  only  parties,  but 
the  nation  had  made  great  strides  forward  since  the  days  of 
President  Buchanan.  How  would  the  new  President  and 
Vice-President  meet  this  responsibility  ? Would  they  prove 
safe  guardians  of  the  greatest  and  gravest  public  trust  in  the' 
world  ? Would  they  honor  themselves,  their  party,  the 
people  at  large,  our  American  institutions  ? Unfortunately, 
the  Vice-President  did  not  live  long  enough  (he  died  No- 
vember 25,  1885)  to  contribute  much  by  counsel  to  the 


574 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


success  of  the  administration,  of  which  he  was  an  honored 
part.  But,  fortunately,  the  elections  of  the  year  1884  gave 
to  the  lower  house  of  Congress  a majority  of  Democrats. 
The  new  President  could  find  in  this  fact  a source  of  en- 
couragement. With  or  without  these,  however,  he  would 
move  boldly  and  confidently  forward  in  the  line  of  duty,  as 
he  had  moved  before,  and  trust  to  the  honest  sentiment  of 
his  countrymen  for  appreciative  support. 


Hon.  A.  H.  Garland. 

Born  in  Tipton  co.,  Tenn.,  June  11,  1832;  moved  to  Arkansas  when 
young;  educated  at  St.  Mary’s  College,  Ky.,  and  St.  Joseph’s  College, 
Ky. ; admitted  to  Arkansas  bar,  1853 ; moved  to  Little  Rock,  1856 ; a 
Bell-Everett  elector,  1860;  opposed  Secession,  but  went  with  his  State; 
a delegate  to  First  Confederate  Congress  ; elected  to  Confederate  Senate  ; 
admitted  to  practice  in  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  without  taking  “ oath  of 
allegiance,”  1867;  elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  1867,  but  seat  refused; 
elected  Governor  of  Arkansas,  as  Democrat,  1874 ; elected  to  U.  S. 
Senate,  1876,  and  re-elected  in  1882;  appointed  Attorney  General  by 
President  Cleveland,  March  5,  1885. 

(576) 


VII. 


CLEVELAND’S  ADMINISTRATION. 

FORTY-NINTH  AND  FIFTIETH  CONGRESSES. 

President  Cleveland  was  inaugurated  on  March  4, 1885, 
amid  ceremonies  which  were  truly  national.  The  throng 
of  visitors  at  the  National  Capitol  was  estimated  at  half  a 
million.  Inauguration  day  was  auspicious  in  its  spring-like 
brightness  and  balm.  Flags  floated  from  all  the  public 
buildings  and  the  spacious  avenues  were  gay  with  decora- 
tions. The  procession  was  the  largest  of  a civic  nature  that 
had  ever  passed  over  Pennsylvania  avenue,  and  the  military 
escort,  made  up  of  battalions  from  the  various  States,  was 
exceeded  only  by  the  great  reviews  which  took  place  at  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War  in  1865.  The  objective*  point  was 
first  the  Senate  Chamber  and  then  the  grand  plaza  in  front 
of  the  Capitol,  where  200,000  people  awaited  the  inaugural. 
As  soon  as  silence  could  be  commanded  President  Cleve- 
land delivered  his  inaugural  in  such  a rich,  clear  voice  that 
it  was  heard  by  nearly  all  in  that  vast  assemblage.  When 
he  had  finished  he  turned  to  Chief-Justice  Waite  and  said: 
“ I am  now  ready  to  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  law.”  The 
Chief-Justice  held  in  his  hand  a small  Bible  which  had  been 
given  to  Mr.  Cleveland  by  his  mother  when  he  had  started 
to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  world.  Placing  his  right  hand  on 
this  he  received  the  oath  of  office  and  then  kissed  the  sacred 

(577) 


578 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


book,  his  lips  touching  verses  5-10,  inclusive,  of  the  112th 
Psalm. 

Then  those  on  the  platform  congratulated  the  President, 
the  multitude  made  the  welkin  ring  with  cheers,  a hundred 
bands  played  “ Hail  to  the  Chief/’  and  the  cannon  at  the 
navy  yard  and  arsenal  thundered  forth  the  “ Presidential 
salute.”  The  procession  re-formed,  with  President  Cleve- 
land at  its  head.  It  marched  to  the  White  House,  where 
the  President  took  the  grand  stand  and  reviewed  the  im- 
mense procession  as  it  passed  by  for  three  long  hours.  In 
the  evening  came  fireworks  and  the  inauguration  ball,  par- 
ticipated in  by  10,000  people.  This  was  regarded  as  a fitting 
close  to  the  brilliant  ceremonies  of  the  day. 

In  the  President’s  brief  and  chaste  inaugural  he  pledged 
himself  and  his  administration  to  a close  observance  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws ; to  peace,  commerce  and  honest 
friendship  with  all  nations  and  entangling  alliances  with 
none ; to  care  for  the  public  domain  and  fair  treatment  of 
the  Indians;  to  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  polyg- 
amy and  the  immigration  of  foreign  servile  classes ; to  strict 
execution  of  the  civil  service  laws  on  the  principle  an- 
nounced in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  that  public  office  is  a 
public  trust;  to  limitation  of  public  expenditure  to  actual 
needs  of  government.  The  document  was  a plain  statement 
of  the  President’s  views,  and  was  satisfying  in  every  respect. 
It  gave  promise  that  he  would  launch  his  administration  on 
broad  and  safe  waters,  and  would  not  dare  that  which  was 
entirely  novel,  brilliant  and  startling.  He  preferred  to  be 
reposeful  rather  than  dashing,  sure  of  his  ground  rather 
than  take  chances  in  a sudden  rush  for  notoriety  over  sur- 
faces which  had  not  been  surveyed  and  mapped  by  political 
pioneers. 

During  his  first  months  in  office  President  Cleveland  pro- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


579 


ceeded  quietly  and  cautiously  toward  the  adoption  of  a pol- 
icy and  purpose.  He  examined  every  situation  with  care, 
and  perhaps  gave  closer  personal  attention  to  routine  work 
than  any  predecessor  in  the  high  office.  He  was  young, 
vigorous  in  mind  and  body  and  a lover  of  detail.  He  had 
surrounded  himself  with  the  following  admirable  Cabinet, 
which  was  regarded  as  happily  chosen  and  thoroughly  rep- 
resentative of  the  best  interests  of  his  party  and  the  country 
at  large  : 

Secretary  of  State Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Del. 

Secretary  of  Treasury Daniel  Manning,  N.  Y. 

Secretary  of  War Wm.  C.  Endicott,  Mass. 

Secretary  of  Navy Wm.  C.  Whitney,  N.  Y. 

Secretary  of  Interior L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  Miss. 

Attorney-General Aug.  H.  Garland,  Ark. 

Postmaster- General Wm.  F.  Vilas,  Wis. 

This  was  a body  of  counsellors  in  which  any  administra- 
tion might  place  the  utmost  confidence.  He  was  no  less 
fortunate  in  having  for  his  private  secretary  Colonel  Daniel 
S.  Lamont,  who  had  served  him  faithfully  in  that  capacity 
when  he  was  Governor  and  who  had  such  a comprehensive 
knowledge  of  public  men  and  political  life  as  is  vouchsafed 
to  few.  The  possessor  of  great  personal  urbanity,  always 
clear-headed,  very  reticent,  especially  concerning  executive 
affairs,  he  was  emphatically  the  “ right  man  in  the  right 
place.” 

From  the  date  of  inauguration  to  the  opening  of  the 
Forty-ninth  Congress,  Dec.  7,  1885,  the  administration  of 
President  Cleveland  moved  smoothly  and  satisfactorily  along. 
His  message  to  that  Congress  was  waited  for  with  anxiety 
by  the  country,  as  his  first  opportunity  for  presenting  in 
detail  a plan  of  administration.  The  document  proved  to 
be  a lengthy  but  very  worthy  State  paper,  embracing  in  the 


5&0  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

main  three  distinct  points — the  silver  question,  the  tariff  and 
civil  service,  with  brief  discussion  of  the  Indian  problem, 
commercial  treaties,  Mormonism,  the  navy,  and  other  cur- 
rent subjects.  He  disapproved  of  further  coinage  of  the 
Bland  dollar,  advised  conservative  action  respecting  the 
tariff,  gave  much  dignified  and  courageous  advice  relative 
to  civil  service.  The  nation  was  pleased  with  such  outline 
of  administration  as  the  message  promised,  and  it  was  es- 
pecially lauded  by  the  independent  Republicans  who  had 
supported  him  for  office. 

He  found  in  the  House  a Democratic  majority  which  was 
in  thorough  accord  with  him,  and  many  special  champions 
in  the  Senate.  However  smoothly  a new  administration 
may  run  while  the  Congress  is  not  in  session,  it  cannot  ex- 
pect to  escape  criticism  and  antagonism  when  brought  into 
close  contact  with  the  legislative  body  of  the  land,  espe- 
cially if  all,  or  a part  of  it,  be  of  the  opposition.  The 
Senate  was  Republican,  and  its  first  duty  was  to  pass  on  the 
numerous  nominations  of  the  President.  A hitch  occurred 
almost  at  the  start,  when  the  Senate  asked  for  sight  of  the 
recommendations  on  which  the  President  had  based  some 
of  his  important  appointments,  and  also  of  papers  on  which 
he  had  based  his  removals.  He  regarded  them  as  personal 
papers,  and  the  Attorney-General  sustained  his  refusal  to 
show  them.  The  Senate  took  an  opposite  view,  but  the 
affair  was  so  adjusted  as  not  to  interfere  greatly  with  the 
serenity  of  either  the  President  or  Senators. 

The  first  session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  lasted  till 
Aug.  5,  1886.  It  accomplished  but  little  to  affect  the  coun- 
try or  the  status  of  parties.  Looked  in  upon  critically,  the 
administration  of  President  Cleveland  had  thus  far  been 
plain,  straightforward  and  unmomentous.  Peace  and  pros- 
perity reigned,  and  the  political  revolution  of  1884  had 


GROVER  CIvKVEIyAND. 


58r 

brought  none  of  the  disasters  so  freely  prophesied  by 
croakers.  It  was  to  some  extent  true  that  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
own  party  had  not  profited  as  much  as  it  desired  from  his 
administration.  But  he  could  well  afford  to  face  this  situa- 
tion, for  the  utmost  that  could  be  laid  to  his  discredit  was 
the  exercise  of  prudence  in  changing  from  one  set  of  office- 
holders to  another,  and  the  bringing  to  bear  severe  discrim- 
ination in  making  up  his  mind  as  to  the  qualifications  of 
those  who  should  represent  him.  If  the  resolve  to  have  a 
safe  administration  did  not  suit  a few  hot-heads  who  would 
have  overturned  everything  and  brought  disgrace  on  the 
party,  he  was  not  greatly  disturbed  about  it,  but  went  on  his 
cautious  way,  sure  of  the  fact  that  the  end  would  vindicate 
his  procedure. 

The  second  session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  which 
met  Dec.  6,  1886,  gave  the  President  another  opportunity  to 
present  his  views  to  the  country  in  an  annual  message. 
The  interim  had  been  signalized  by  nothing  of  political  mo- 
ment except  a more  pronounced  desire  on  the  part  of  Demo- 
crats who  favored  tariff  revision  to  accomplish  something  in 
that  direction  during  the  pending  session.  The  Congres- 
sional elections  had  been  held  and,  from  whatever  cause, 
there  had  been  a diminution  of  the  Democratic  majority  in 
the  House.  President  Cleveland  delivered  a message  which 
was  much  more  vigorous  and  pointed  than  his  former  one. 
In  it  he  urged  upon  his  party  the  necessity  for  taking  a de- 
cided step  in  favor  of  tariff  revision,  and  a reduction  of  the 
surplus.  He  was  as  emphatic  as  before  in  his  objections  to 
compulsory  coinage,  and  the  longer  continuance  of  internal 
taxes.  He  had  been  harshly  criticised  by  his  opponents  for 
numerous  vetoes  of  bills  conferring  pensions  in  exceptional 
cases.  These  vetoes  he  ably  defended,  because  the  class  of 
legislation  against  which  they  were  aimed  was  one  which 


5S2 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


was  dangerous  in  principle  and  calculated  to  open  the  doors 
to  extravagance  and  corruption.  The  message  evinced  a 
determination  on  the  President’s  part  to  secure,  in  so  far  as 
he  could,  a greater  amount  of  legislation  than  the  first 
session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  had  given  to  the  coun- 
try. He  was  now  well  grounded  in  popular  regard,  had  a 
full  understanding  of  national  and  party  wants,  and  felt  that 
he  could  afford  to  make  his  advice  emphatic.  The  result 
was  that  at  this  short  session  the  Congress  did  an  immense 
amount  of  work,  and  settled  many  pressing  questions.  The 
Anti-Polygamy  act  was  passed ; one  redeeming  Trade  Dol- 
lars ; regulating  the  Electoral  Count,  and  repealing  the 
Tenure  of  Office  law.  But  for  the  fact  that  the  Democrats 
in  the  House  were  divided  on  the  questions  of  tariff  revi- 
sion, internal  taxation,  and  reduction  of  the  surplus  in  the 
treasury,  all  the  important  measures  urged  in  his  message 
would  have  been  enacted  into  laws,  and  their  beneficial  re- 
sults given  to  the  country. 

Thus  ended  the  first  two  years  of  President  Cleveland’s 
administration.  He  had  been  singularly  successful  in  recon- 
ciling the  country  to  the  political  change  which  came  about 
with  the  advent  of  his  party  to  power.  Antagonisms  had 
been  avoided  by  a wise  use  of  his  functions.  He  had  made 
no  foolish  haste,  had  done  everything  conscientiously  and 
for  the  best,  had  met  on  every  hand  the  expectations  of 
those  who  contributed  to  his  election.  Better  than  all  he 
had  not  lost  the  best  wishes  of  his  political  opponents  to 
see  him  successful  in  his  administration  of  national  affairs. 
At  times  it  was  felt  on  all  sides  that  he  was  bigger,  braver, 
and  more  advanced  than  his  party,  and 'that  this  would,  in 
the  end,  prove  a greater  source  of  danger  to  his  success 
than  attacks  from  without.  But  he  had  the  sagacity  to 
ward  off  all  harm  in  this  direction  by  choosing  his  ground 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


583 


well,  taking  bold  and  firm  stands  without  appearing  to  be 
arbitrary  or  dictatorial,  and  then  patiently  waiting  for  the 
sober,  second  thought  of  his  followers.  He  thus  grew  upon 
them,  as  it  were,  and  without  any  spirit  of  assumption  or 
attempt  at  cross-purposes,  came  to  be  recognized  as  one 
abundantly  worthy  of  entire  confidence  and  admirably 
equipped  for  safe  and  victorious  leadership. 

As  party  lines  began  to  shape  up  for  the  contest  of  1888, 
President  Cleveland’s  administration  naturally  passed  under 
closer  scrutiny  by  his  political  opponents.  He  could  hardly 
expect  to  escape  that  small,  invidious  criticism  which  every 
trifling  official  error  and  every  slight  departure  from  the 
usual  course  of  things  are  too  apt  to  provoke  in  this  country, 
and  which  is  none  to  the  credit  of  our  newsmongers  and 
partisan  writers.  Thus  his  veto  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Dependent  Pension  Bill,  though  based  on  grounds  which 
every  impartial  man  will,  almost  at  a glance,  regard  as  ten- 
able, was  heralded  as  evidence  of  his  opposition  to  the 
soldier  element.  This  was  both  unfair  and  unjust,  and  it 
did  not  take  long  for  the  better  second  thought  of  the  coun- 
try to  come  to  the  President’s  vindication.  There  was  an- 
other outburst  of  the  same  sentiment  when  the  order  to  “ re- 
turn the  rebel  flags  ” was  issued.  But  when  it  appeared 
that  the  order  was  really  that  of  a subordinate,  and  that  it 
was  countermanded  by  the  President  as  soon  as  its  true  na- 
ture became  known,  full  credit  was  given  to  him  for  recti- 
tude of  intention. 

But  with  _ . ciicae  annoyances  there  was  a broader  and 
fairer  field  of  criticism  to  encounter.  This  he  did  not  fear; 
this,  indeed,  he  would  invite,  in  so  far  as  a perfectly  straight 
and  fearless  course  proved  an  invitation.  Aggressiveness 
was  never  a part  of  President  Cleveland’s  organization,  yet 
he  was  not  a man  to  stand  still.  He  saw  the  political  situa- 


584 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


tion  of  1884  as  plainly  as  any  man  could.  The  things 
which  contributed  to  his  own  and  Democratic  success  in 
that  year — the  mistrust  of  the  party  in  power,  the  personal 
antagonism  to  its  candidate,  the  general  desire  for  political 
change — could  not  contribute  to  the  same  end  again.  Party 
success  a second  time  must  depend  on  a record  made,  on 
something  done,  on  confidence  inspired,  on  a grand  affirma- 
tive position  to  be  stoutly  maintained.  How  could  this 
standpoint  be  reached  ? Clearly  not  by  the  reposeful,  nega- 
tive methods  which  were  so  well  adapted  to  the  first  two 
years  of  his  administration.  There  must  be  a change,  more 
action,  for,  as  the  legend  on  the  ruins  of  Dendera  hath  it, 
“ action  is  life.”  It  was  to  this  end  that  he  almost  scolded 
the  second  session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  for  its  inert- 
ness during  the  first  and  long  session — the  session  of  oppor- 
tunity. He  would  not  scold,  or  urge,  or  plead  again,  but, 
as  was  justly  his  place,  he  would  present  a clear  issue, 
would  father  a central  thought,  would  ask  his  party  and  the 
nation  to  take  something  definite  in  hand  for  its  own  good. 

In  writing  the  life  of  President  Cleveland  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  go  into  an  analysis  of  parties.  It  is  sufficiently  un- 
derstood that  the  doctrine  of  Protection  is  fostered  by  the 
Republican  party  through  and  by  means  of  the  tariff  laws, 
and  that  such  doctrine  has  become  cardinal  with  the  party. 
It  is  just  as  well  understood  that  the  Democratic  party  has 
never  accepted  this  doctrine  in  its  entirety,  but  has  acqui- 
esced in  it  as  a means  of  raising  revenue  when  necessary, 
and  has  always  claimed  that,  the  necessity  passed,  the  tariff 
laws  should  be  revised,  and  tariff  rates  reduced,  the  same 
as  with  any  other  tax  laws.  In  the  opinion  of  many  Demo- 
cratic leaders  of  thought,  which  opinion  Mr.  Cleveland 
shared,  the  excess  of  income  over  expenditures,  and  the  ac- 
cumulation of  an  unnecessary  surplus  of  public  money  in  the 


Hon.  William  C.  Endicott. 

Born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  November  26,  1826 ; educated  in  Salem 
schools  and  graduated  from  Harvard,  1847 ; studied  law  and  admitted 
to  Essex  County  Bar;  practiced  profession  to  1873,  in  firm  of  Perry  & 
Endicott ; appointed,  1873,  by  Governor  of  State,  to  Judgeship  on  Su- 
preme Bench  of  Massachusetts  ; continued  on  bench  till  1882,  when  he 
resigned  his  commission ; appointed  Secretary  of  War  by  President 
Cleveland,  March,  1885,  and  remained  in  office  till  1889 ; resumed 
practice  of  law,  and  continues  to  date;  recognized  as  an  able  jurist  and 
excellent  statesman. 


(58S) 


UM»a*iIY  3f  mswu 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


587 


national  treasury,  afforded  an  excellent  argument  and  made 
the  time  propitious  for  declaring  a policy  which  looked 
toward  both  tariff  and  internal  tax  reduction,  and  which 
should  at  the  same  time  answer  for  a more  definite  declara- 
tion of  party  principles  than  had  been  the  custom  in  National 
Conventions  and  platforms.  While  the  desire  to  do  this 
had  long  existed  on  the  part  of  many  prominent  Democrats, 
no  one  seemed  bold  enough,  or  felt  himself  sufficiently 
strong  as  a leader,  to  take  such  an  initiative  as  would  im- 
press the  people.  There  was  a small  but  resolute  faction 
within  the  party  which  antagonized  any  such  step,  and  re- 
mained as  firmly  attached  to  the  Protection  school  of 
thought  as  the  Republicans  themselves.  They  were  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  failure  of  tariff  legislation  in  the  Forty- 
ninth  Congress,  and  were  still  more  hostile  in  the  Fiftieth 
Congress.  Mr.  Cleveland  had,  of  course,  fully  discounted 
their  strength  before  he  concluded  on  his  step  forward.  He 
felt  also,  no  doubt,  that  he,  of  all  men,  was  the  one  to  place 
himself  in  the  van  of  what  bade  fair  to  be  the  most  impor- 
tant political  movement  since  the  civil  war,  for  he  was  not 
only  the  most  conspicuous  man  in  the  country,  but  the  one 
best  calculated,  by  reason  of  his  sturdy  character  and  well- 
established  official  record,  to  inspire  confidence. 

This  was  the  logic  of  that  situation  which  President 
Cleveland  presented  to  the  country  when,  on  December  5, 
1887,  he  delivered  to  Congress  that  brief  message  of  only 
4,500  words,  which  touched  upon  only  that  branch  of  finance 
involved  in  taxation,  customs  duties  and  the  treasury  sur- 
plus, which  awakened  his  party  as  if  from  a long  dream  and 
which  electrified  the  nation.  It  was  an  indication  of  a de- 
parture from  the  hesitating  and  shuffling  methods  which  had 
so  long  prevailed  and  was  equivalent  to  a new  declaration 
of  principles  for  modern  Democracy,  or  rather  to  a broad 


588 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


and  emphatic  announcement  of  those  principles  which  had 
made  statesmen  of  the  Democratic  fathers  and  given  them 
repeated  victories.  The  message  was  hailed  by  his  party  as 
a step  in  the  right  direction,  and  the  President  was  made 
the  recipient  of  congratulations  which  showed  he  had  struck 
an  immensely  popular  chord.  So  earnest  was  he  in  his 
presentation  of  the  financial  situation,  and  so  candid  and 
fearless  in  his  statements  respecting  high  and  unnecessary 
taxation,  with  its  dangerous  concomitant  of  an  overflowing 
treasury,  that  not  even  his  enemies  failed  to  applaud  his 
utterances  as  the  very  essence  of  frankness  and  his  step  as 
Napoleonic  in  conception  and  importance.  The  Democratic 
majority  in  the  House  promptly  responded  to  the  President’s 
advice  and  presented  a bill  which  looked  toward  the  reforms 
indicated  in  the  message,  and  they  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
pass  it  over  the  Republican  strength  aided  by  a factious 
Democratic  minority. 

This  heroic  step  on  the  part  of  President  Cleveland  con- 
tributed greatly  to  his  reputation  as  a broad-mindedThinker, 
and  a statesman  capable  of  seeing  in  advance  of  his  time  and 
preparing  for  victories  on  a basis  which  should  admit  of  no 
misconstruction.  But  there  was  one  thing  about  it  which  he 
may  not  have  fully  considered,  or  if  so,  then  it  should  be  care- 
fully weighed  by  every  candid  mind,  in  order  that  misap- 
prehension may  not  arise  respecting  the  future  which  it 
opened  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  also  in  order  that  the  criticism 
which  his  nomination  for  a second  term  called  forth  from  his 
political  enemies  may  be  met  at  once.  The  new  policy 
of  the  administration  placed  Mr.  Cleveland  so  clearly  in  the 
van  of  his  party,  that  it  would  have  been  cowardly,  if  not 
suicidal,  for  him  to  have  shrunk  from  the  responsibility  im- 
posed, no  matter  what  form  that  responsibility  assumed. 
Thus,  without  intent  or  volition  on  his  part,  but  by  sheer 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


589 


force  of  political  circumstances,  he  found  his  leadership  of 
that  pronounced  and  momentous  kind,  which  impelled  him 
directly  and  inevitably  toward  a renomination  by  his  party. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  world  of  his  sincerity,  when, 
in  his  letter  of  acceptance  in  1884,  he  made  known  his  con- 
viction that  a President  should  not  be  an  aspirant  for  a second 
term.  His  reasoning  was  that  such  ambition  might  lead  to 
misuse  of  the  power  and  patronage  at  his  disposal.  The 
reasoning  was  just  as  potential  in  1886,  or  1888,  and  there 
is  no  need  for  supposing  that  his  convictions  underwent 
change  at  any  time.  The  fact  that  an  emergency  might  arise, 
or  that  a changed  set  of  conditions  might  come,  which 
could  not  be  foreseen,  but  which  might  warrant  a second 
term  for  a President,  was  not  one  which  he  combated  in  his 
letter,  nor  did  his  reasoning  apply  to  it.  He  was  as  much 
at  liberty  to  stand  for  a second  term,  after  his  letter  as  before 
it,  unless  it  became  apparent  that  he  was  an  ambitious  seeker 
after  the  place,  and  was  using  the  power  and  patronage  in 
his  hands  to  secure  it.  Nothing  like  this  appeared.  In 
shaping  an  administrative  policy  which  would  enure  to  the 
good  and  glory  of  his  party  and  the  country,  he  acted  like 
a brave,  broad-gauge  statesman,  and  as  President,  or  if  you 
please,  party  leader,  he  was  willing  to  face  every  storm  and 
shoulder  every  responsibility.  When  events,  political  and 
otherwise,  shaped  up  so  as  to  show  forth  the  campaign  of 
1888,  and  his  position  became  such  as  to  make  battle  doubt- 
ful without  the  magic  of  his  name,  the  wisdom  of  his  coun- 
sel, and  the  force  of  his  presence,  there  arose  spontaneously 
a situation  which  rendered  his  candidacy  imperative.  In- 
stead of  using  effort  in  a personal  direction,  and  resorting 
to  means  unworthy  of  a high  official  to  bring  about  a de- 
sirable result,  the  course  of  events,  the  trend  of  sentiment, 
the  uprising  of  feeling,  were  such  as  to  carry  him  along, 


590 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


without  the  asking,  toward  a second  candidature.  Always 
before  in  our  political  history  such  spontaneous  results  have 
been  regarded  as  most  fortunate  fpr  public  men,  and  as  evi- 
dence of  a popular  favor  and  confidence  which  speak  worlds 
for  their  character  and  ability  as  officials  and  statesmen. 
And  so  it  really  was  in  Mr.  Cleveland’s  case. 

During  the  first  session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  Mr. 
Cleveland  reorganized  his  Cabinet  by  promoting  his  Secre- 
tary of  Interior,  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  to  the  place  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Chief-Justice  Waite,  by 
transferring  his  Postmaster-General,  William  F.  Vilas,  to 
the  Interior  Department,  by  promoting  Charles  S.  Fairchild 
to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury,  and  by  appointing 
Don  M.  Dickinson,  of  Michigan,  Postmaster-General.  These 
appointments  were  all  acceptable  to  the  Senate,  and  they 
were  confirmed. 

President  Cleveland  had  on  hand  from  the  beginning  of 
his  administration  the  delicate  question  of  the  American 
Fisheries.  The  treaty  of  1 8 1 8,  between  this  country  and 
England,  had  never  been  satisfactory,  and  the  English  made 
several  seizures  of  American  fishing  vessels  in  Canadian 
waters,  contrary  to  our  construction  of  the  treaty.  The 
administration  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  under  the  aus- 
pices of  a commission  composed  of  representatives  from  all 
the  countries  concerned,  a new  treaty  was  framed  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Senate  for  confirmation.  This  action  was 
deemed  the  wisest  on  the  part  of  the  administration,  as  it 
was  least  likely  to  provoke  hard  feeling,  and  most  likely  to 
get  at  the  root  of  the  troubles.  It  gave  a happy  relief  to  his 
premier,  and  placed  the  future  responsibility  on  the  Senate. 

President  Cleveland  made  reform  in  the  Public  Land 
System  a conspicuous  feature  of  his  administration,  and  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  in  this  respect  he  was  the  means  of  cor- 


Hon.  William  F.  Yilas. 

Born  at  Chelsea,  Vt.,  July  9,  1840;  moved  to  Madison,  Wis.,  1851  > 
graduated  at  State  University,  1858 ; studied  law  at  University  of  Al- 
bany, N.  Y.,  1860,  and  admitted  to  bars  of  New  York  and  Wisconsin ; 
Began  practice  at  Madison,  July  9,  1860;  entered  Union  army,  and 
mustered  out  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  23d  Reg.  Wis.  Vols. ; a Professor 
in  Law  Department  of  State  University  since  1868 ; Regent  of  same, 
1880-85;  member  Board  of  Revision  of  Statutes,  1878  ; elected  to  Wis- 
consin Legislature,  1885 ; delegate  to  Democratic  National  Conventions, 
1876-80-84;  appointed  Postmaster-General  by  President  Cleveland, 
March  7,  1885;  appointed  Secretary  of  Interior,  January  16,  1888; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate,  January  28,  1891 ; member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Claims,  Civil  Service,  Indian  Affairs,  Pensions  and  Quad- 
ro-Centennial. 


(59') 


m iwi  m 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


593 


recting  one  of  the  most  vicious  systems  in  the  whole  do- 
main of  government,  and  at  the  same  time  of  saving 
millions  to  the  Treasury.  In  the  execution  of  laws  he  was 
energetic  and  persistent,  and,  it  may  be,  imbued  with  a good 
deal  of  that  philosophy  which  prompted  President  Grant  to 
say  that  “ the  best  way  to  secure  the  repeal  of  an  obnox- 
ious law  was  to  enforce  it  to  the  letter.” 

Said  a conspicuous  American  statesman : 

“ The  day  on  which  Grover  Cleveland,  the  plain,  straight- 
forward, typical  American  citizen  took  the  oath  of  office, 
marked  the  close  of  an  old  era  and  the  beginning  of  a new 
one.  It  closed  the  era  of  usurpation  of  power  by  the  Fed- 
eral authority,  of  illegal  force,  of  general  contempt  for  con- 
stitutional limitations  and  plain  law,  of  glaring  scandals, 
profligate  waste,  and  unspeakable  corruption,  of  narrow 
sectionalism  and  class  strife,  of  the  reign  of  a party  whose 
good  w’ork  had  long  been  done.  It  began  the  era  of  per- 
fect peace  and  perfect  union  of  the  States,  fused  in  all 
their  sovereignty  into  a Federal  Republic,  with  limited  but 
ample  powers ; of  a public  service  conducted  with  absolute 
integrity  and  strict  economy ; of  reforms  pushed  to  their 
extreme  limit ; of  comprehensive,  sound  and  safe  financial 
policy;  giving  security  and  confidence  to  all  enterprise  and 
endeavor — a Democratic  administration,  faithful  to  its 
mighty  trust,  loyal  to  its  pledges ; true  to  the  constitution, 
safeguarding  the  interests  and  liberties  of  the  people.  And 
now  we  stand  on  the  edge  of  another  era,  perhaps  a greater 
contest ; with  a relation  to  the  electors  that  we  have  not 
held  for  a generation,  that  of  responsibility  for  the  great 
trust  of  government.  We  are  no  longer  authors,  but  ac- 
countants ; no  longer  critics,  but  the  criticised.  The  respon- 
sibility is  ours,  and  if  we  have  not  taken  all  the  power 
27 


594 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


necessary  to  make  that  responsibility  good  the  fault  is  ours, 
not  that  of  the  people. 

“ The  administration  of  President  Cleveland  has  triumph- 
antly justified  his  election.  It  compels  the  respect,  confi- 
dence and  approval  of  the  country.  The  prophets  of  evil 
and  disaster  are  dumb.  What  the  people  see  is  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Union  restored  to  its  ancient  footing  of  justice, 
peace,  honesty  and  impartial  enforcement  of  the  law.  They 
see  the  demands  of  labor  and  agriculture  met,  so  far  as 
government  can  meet  them,  by  the  legislative  enactments 
for  their  encouragement  and  protection.  They  see  the  vet- 
erans of  the  civil  war  granted  pensions  long  due  them  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  twice  in  number  and  nearly  three  times 
in  value  of  those  granted  under  any  previous  administration. 
They  see  more  than  32,000,000  acres  of  land  recklessly  and 
illegally  held  by  the  grantees  of  the  corrupt  Republican 
regime  restored  to  the  public  domain  for  the  benefit  of 
honest  settlers.  They  see  the  negro,  whose  fears  of  Demo- 
cratic rule  were  played  upon  by  demagogues  four  years  ago, 
not  only  more  fully  protected  than  by  his  pretended  friends, 
but  honored  as  his  race  was  never  honored  before.  They 
see  a financial  policy  under  which  reckless  speculation  has 
practically  ceased  and  capital  freed  from  distrust.  They  see 
for  the  first  time  an  honest  observance  of  the  law  governing 
the  civil  establishment,  and  the  employees  of  the  people  rid, 
at  least,  of  the  political  highwaymen  with  a demand  for 
tribute  in  one  hand  and  a letter  of  dismissal  in  the  other. 
They  see  useless  offices  abolished  and  expenses  of  adminis- 
tration reduced,  while  improved  methods  have  lifted  the 
public  service  to  high  efficiency.  They  see  tranquility, 
order,  security  and  equal  justice  restored  in  the  land,  a 
watchful,  safe,  steady  and  patriot^  administratiori — the  sol* 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


595 


emn  promises  made  by  Democracy  faithfully  kept.  It  is 
‘ an  honest  government  by  honest  men.’ 

“ Four  years  ago  you  trusted  tentatively  the  Democratic 
party  and  supported  with  zeal  and  vigor  its  candidate  for 
President.  You  thought  him  strong  in  all  the  sturdy  qual- 
ities requisite  for  the  great  task  of  reform.  No  President  in 
time  of  peace  had  so  difficult  and  laborious  a duty  to  per- 
form. His  party  had  been  out  of  power  for  twenty-four 
years.  Every  member  of  it  had  been  almost  venomously 
excluded  from  the  smallest  post  where  administration  could 
be  studied.  Every  place  was  filled  by  men  whose  interest 
it  was  to  thwart  inquiry  and  belittle  the  new  administration, 
but  the  master  hand  came  to  the  helm,  and  the  true  course 
has  been  kept  from  the  beginning. 

“ We  need  not  wait  for  time  to  do  justice  to  the  character 
and  services  of  President  Cleveland.  Honest,  clear-sighted, 
patient,  grounded  in  respect  for  law  and  justice;  with  a 
thorough  grasp  of  principles  and  situations ; with  marvel- 
lous and  conscientious  industry;  the  very  incarnation  of 
firmness — he  has  nobly  fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  party, 
nobly  met  the  expectations  of  his  country  and  written  his 
name  high  on  the  scroll  where  future  Americans  will  read 
the  names  of  men  who  have  been  supremely  useful  to  the 
Republic.” 

President  Cleveland  carried  into  the  White  House  the 
strong  physique,  the  habits  of  industry,  the  attention  to  de- 
tails that  had  characterized  his  previous  life.  As  the  labors 
were  more  telling  he  began  to  find  a necessity  for  exercise 
in  the  recreation  of  riding,  and  he  rode  much  on  horse- 
back. He  still  possessed  that  gentle  but  firm  strength  of 
official  demeanor,  that  modesty  of  deportment  and  indiffer- 
ence to  popular  clamor,  that  affability  of  spirit  and  willing 
receptivity  where  interested,  which  impressed  all  with  the 


59^ 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


thought  personally  and  politically  he  meant  to  do  the  right. 
In  general  appearance  he  grew  impressive  with  age,  experi- 
ence and  dignity.  His  large  head,  broad  forehead,  deeply  set 
blue  eyes, conspicuous  nose,  vigorous  nostrils,  firm  mouth,  and 
heavy  moustache,  typed  one  born  to  command.  His  closely 
buttoned  coat,  slight,  dark  neck-tie  and  immaculate  collar 
and  bosom,  showed  that  he  was  not  indifferent  to  the  laws 
of  style  in  dress.  In  receiving,  or  in  conversation,  he  poised 
with  his  hands  behind  him,  but  in  thought  his  hands  came 
to  the  front  and,  not  infrequently,  one  to  his  head.  His 
order  of  public  life  and  domestic  affair  was  rigidly  observed. 
He  rose  at  regular  hours,  made  his  toilet  by  rule,  appeared 
at  his  desk  at  a certain  hour  for  attention  to  his  correspond- 
ence. He  was  promptly  on  hand  at  the  hour  for  the  recep- 
tion of  visitors,  heard  with  easy  grace  and  patience  the 
claims  of  all,  had  a kind  word  or  pleasant  hand-shake  for 
the  thousands  whose  mission  was  that  of  compliment  or 
curiosity.  After  luncheon  he  returned  to  his  desk  and 
worked  so  long  as  work  was  found  to  do.  No  predecessor 
ever  weighed  the  claims  and  qualifications  of  candidates  for 
place  with  greater  care.  He  carefully  pondered  all  recom- 
mendations, and  made  his  appointments  only  after  the  full- 
est consideration  of  the  merits  of  rival  applicants. 

He  had  the  happy  faculty  of  dispossessing  himself  of 
the  cares  of  State  at  bed-time,  and  of  settling  daily  the  work 
of  each  day.  For  nearly  two  years  of  his  administration 
the  domestic  affairs  of  the  White  House  were  presided  over 
by  his  sister,  Miss  Rose  Elizabeth  Cleveland.  But  the 
monotony  of  bachelorhood  was  soon  to  be  broken  by  his 
marriage,  an  event  which  created  a sensation  in  the  fashion- 
able world  and  greatly  contributed  to- the  social  atmosphere 
of  the  Presidential  Mansion.  President  Cleveland  was  mar- 
ried at  the  White  House  at  seven  P.  M.  on  June  2,  1886,  to 


ML  il  U:,df 

of  m 


Hon.  David  B.  Hill. 

Born  in  Chemung  co.,  N.  Y.,  August  29, 1843;  graduated  at  Havanna 
Academy ; admitted  to  Elmira  bar,  November,  1864,  and  appointed 
City  Attorney;  member  of  State  Assembly,  1871-72;  President  of 
Democratic  State  Conventions,  1877,  1881 ; elected  Mayor  of  Elmira, 
1882;  President  of  New  York  Bar  Association,  1886-87  ; elected  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of  New  York,  November,  1882;  succeeded  Grover 
Cleveland  as  Governor,  January,  1885 ; elected  Governor,  November, 
1885,  on  Democratic  ticket ; re-elected  Governor,  1888 ; elected  to 
United  States  Senate,  as  Democrat,  1891 ; a distinguished  party  organ- 
izer and  leader;  name  much  discussed  in  connection  with  the  Presidency. 

(598) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


599 


Miss  Frances  Folsom,  daughter  of  his  former  law  partner. 
Though  this  was  the  eighth  marriage  within  the  walls  of  the 
White  House,  it  was  the  first  in  which  a President  of  the 
United  States  participated  as  a bridegroom.  It  was  a plain 
ceremony,  after  the  Presbyterian  form,  with  the  Marine 
Band  to  play  the  wedding  march  and  the  President’s  salute 
from  the  guns  of  the  Navy  Yard  to  notify  the  world  that 
the  vows  had  been  finally  sealed.  This  marriage  introduced 
into  the  executive  mansion  and  to  public  life  one  of  the 
most  charming  ladies  of  the  land.  She  bore  all  her  blush- 
ing honors  meekly  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  sociability, 
vivacity  and  elegance  of  the  White  House  establishment. 
On  Oct.  4,  1891,  she  became  the  mother  of  a daughter, 
Ruth  Cleveland.  The  summer  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cleveland  is  at  “ Gray  Gables,”  a beautiful  villa  surrounded 
by  100  acres  of  land,  lying  upon  the  shores  of  Buzzard’s 
Bay. 


VIII. 


CONVENTION  AND  CAMPAIGN  OF  1888. 

The  Democrats  met  in  National  Convention,  pursuant  to 
call,  at  St.  Louis,  June  5,  1888.  The  high  position  taken 
by  President  Cleveland  in  his  celebrated  message  of  Dec.  5, 
1887,  delivered  to  the  first  session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress, 
supplemented  by  the  Mills  Bill  favoring  tariff  reduction, 
pointed  to  the  way  to  his  renomination. 

When  Convention  day  dawned,  and  the  great  Democratic 
party  sat  in  National  Council,  when  an  outlook  of  the  situa- 
tion was  had  after  a comparison  of  political  views,  when 
grave  men  had  deliberated  and  arrived  at  the  mature  judg- 
ment as  to  what  was  best  for  party  success  and  the  triumph 
of  immutable  principles,  there  was  more  than  ever  one  voice 
in  favor  of  the  renomination  of  President  Cleveland.  All 
private  likes  and  dislikes  were  merged  in  the  common 
thought  that  he  was  the  man  best  calculated  by  experience, 
by  towering  ability  as  leader,  by  impregnable  record  to  bear 
the  party  standard  through  the  campaign  battles  of  1888. 
No  other  name  was  mentioned  in  Convention,  ifr  connection 
with  the  Presidency,  and  when  his  was  mentioned  it  always 
awakened  an  enthusiasm  which  found  vent  in  vociferous  and 
prolonged  cheers. 

For  President  Cleveland,  the  St.  Louis  Convention  was 
both  endorsement  and  ovation.  It  ratified  nearly  four  years 
of  administrative  work,  and  pledged  a continuance  of  con- 
fidence and  support.  That  public  career  which,  in  1884,  had 
been  limited  by  State  lines,  was,  at  St.  Louis,  b®unded  by 
(600) 


GkOVBk  CLEVELAND. 


601 

the  horizon  of  every  civilized  country.  In  1884  he  was 
pledged  to  his  country  by  his  party  for  what  he  gave  promise 
as  President  to  be.  In  1888  no  such'  formal  pledge  was 
needed,  for  as  one  of  the  orators  in  the  convention  put  it, 
“ He  had  not  only  won  the  applause  of  his  countrymen,  but 
the  plaudit  of  the  civilized  world  of  ‘ Well  done,  thou  good 
and  faithful  servant.’  ” 

When  State  after  State  had  risen  in  that  grandly  repre- 
sentative convention  to  shower  on  the  President  its  eulogies 
and  pledge  him  anew  its  support,  the  climax  was  reached 
at  the  call  of  Kentucky,  whose  spokesman,  McKenzie, 
closed  his  eloquent  tribute  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s  greatness  by 
saying : — 

“ Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  : I move  to  suspend  the 
rules  and  make  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  for 
President  of  the  United  States  absolutely  unanimous.” 

This  was  the  last  step  of  that  superb  movement  which 
crowned  President  Cleveland  with  the  honors  of  a second 
nomination.  There  was  no  ballot,  no  contest,  no  dissent. 
The  convention  rose  as  a unit,  and  as  a personation  of  a 
sentiment  which  was  all  pervading,  and  with  a voice  which 
made  the  immense  spaces  of  Musical  Hall  ring,  acclaimed 
him  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  1888.  It 
was  a tribute  such  as  is  seldom  paid  to  mortal  man.  That 
spontaneous  accord,  that  emphatic  pronouncement,  con- 
tained something  higher  than  the  honors  of  office,  some- 
thing fuller  of  meaning  than  a crown.  It  measured  not 
only  the  estimation  in  which  the  man  was  held,  but  it 
showed  the  heartfelt  gratitude  of  a party  whose  destiny  he 
had  held  sacredly  in  his  keeping  through  its  first  period  of 
triumph  in  twenty-four  years.  It  was  a ratification  of  the 
past,  and  a tender  for  the  future,  not  of  a man  in  the  shape 


602 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


of  a promise,  as  in  1884,  but  as  a happy  and  splendid 
realization. 

In  recognition  of  the  older  element  of  the  party,  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  nomination  was  supplemented  by  that  of  Allen 
G.  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-President.  The  platform 
reaffirmed  that  of  1884;  indorsed  the  views  of  President 
Cleveland  in  his  message  of  December  5,  1887,  and  also  the 
efforts  of  Democratic  Congressmen  to  secure  the  reduction 
of  excessive  taxation ; expressed  party  faith  in  the  main- 
tenance of  a Union  of  free  and  indestructible  States  ; chal- 
lenged investigation  of  administrative  methods ; claimed  a 
wise  dispensation  of  the  public  land  system ; asked  for 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  administration  had  paid  out 
more  than  any  other  for  pensions  and  bounties  to  soldiers 
and  sailors ; claimed  to  have  set  on  foot  the  reconstruction 
of  the  American  navy,  the  adoption  of  a prudent  foreign 
policy,  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  laborers,  and  honest  reform 
in  the  Civil  Service ; declared  against  tax  laws  and  trusts  ; 
proclaimed  the  necessity  for  free  revision  of  all  laws  tending 
to  the  accumulation  of  a surplus  in  the  Treasury. 

The  Republicans  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison,  of 
Indiana,  and  Oliver  P.  Morton,  of  New  York.  The  cam- 
paign was  largely  one  of  discussion  and  free  from  the  bitter 
personalism  which  had  characterized  that  of  1884.  The 
purity  and  strength  of  President  Cleveland’s  administration 
was  admitted  on  all  sides,  but  never  were  party  lines  drawn 
closer  than  on  the  issue  courted  in  his  message  of  1887. 
In  that  message  he  had  been  bold  and  frank  enough  to 
create  an  issue  for  his  party  upon  which  it  could  go  confi- 
dently before  the  country.  At  an  early  day  in  the  cam- 
paign it  was  seen  that  the  fighting  ground  was  narrowed  to 
the  doubtful  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Connecticut 
and  Indiana.  In  these  States  both  parties  concentrated 


GROVER  CEEVEEAND. 


603 


their  best  efforts.  Each  sought  by  speech,  procession  and 
spectacular  performance,  to  convince  the  public  of  the  recti- 
tude of  its  views.  The  early  autumn  elections  in  Maine, 
Oregon  and  Vermont  showed  a trend  of  sentiment  decidedly 
against  the  Democratic  position.  The  November  result 
showed  that  this  trend  was  real.  Harrison  carried  all  the 
States  which  Blaine  had  carried  in  1884,  and  added  the  two 
States  of  Indiana  and  New  York,  thus  securing  233  out  of 
the  401  electoral  votes,  or  a majority  of  31. 

The  confidence  of  both  parties  remained  supreme  till  the 
very  last.  An  unusual  episode  of  the  campaign  was  the 
dismissal  of  the  English  Minister,  Lord  Sackville  West,  for 
unwarranted  interference  with  our  political  affairs.  The 
result  of  the  election  was  so  decisive  as  to  be  cheerfully 
acquiesced  in  by  Mr.  Cleveland  and  his  party. 

Notwithstanding  his  defeat,  President  Cleveland  rounded 
out  his  administration  with  one  of  his  longest  and  ablest 
messages  to  the  Second  Session  of  the  50th  Congress,  in 
which  he  was  firmly  adhesive  to  his  doctrine  of  “ Tariff  Re- 
form,” and  presaged  for  it  a triumph  at  no  distant  day.  He 
had  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  even  in  the  hour  of 
disaster,  and  had  his  professed  friends  remained  as  steadfast 
as  he  when  the  battle  was  on  the  result  might  have  been 
different.  It  is  not  for  us  to  introduce  controversy  into  a 
life  of  a distinguished  and  pure-minded  citizen  and  official, 
but  it  was  a fairly  debatable  question  as  to  whether  Mr. 
Cleveland  received  the  full  measure  of  Democratic  support 
from  his  friends  in  New  York  State.  The  charge  has  been 
made  and  with  no  little  plausibility,  that  a factional  element 
at  home  stabbed  him  in  the  back,  and  color  is  given  to  the 
charge  by  the  fact  that  New  York  elected  a Democratic 
Governor  of  the  machine  type  at  the  very  moment  it  de- 
feated a Democratic  candidate  for  President,  who  stood  for 
pure  politics  and  the  highest  party  principles. 


IX. 


IN  PRIVATE  LIFE. 

President  Cleveland  retired  from  office  with  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  the  only  Democratic  President  since 
1856.  He  had  upheld  the  traditions  and  promises  of  his 
party  with  a faithfulness  that  gave  him  rank  with  the  Jef- 
fersons  and  Jacksons  of  the  long  ago.  He  had  evinced  a 
spirit  of  originality  and  determination  which  often  disap- 
pointed those  who  believed  in  machinery  methods,  but  in 
every  such  instance  he  took  a deeper  hold  on  the  masses. 
He  was  true  to  the  axiom  that  “ a public  office  is  a public 
trust,”  and  no  one  ever  did  more  to  carry  the  axiom  home 
to  the  popular  heart. 

There  was  no  sighing  on  his  part  over  his  defeat,  no  re- 
luctance in  his  retiracy.  None  other  could  have  changed 
the  result.  He  had  glorious  achievements  to  his  credit  and 
could  wait  till  the  dawn  of  an  era  of  appreciation.  He  had 
his  profession  to  fall  back  upon,  and  he  entered  civic  pur- 
suit in  connection  with  one  of  the  most  prosperous  law  firms 
of  New  York  city.  His  services  here  soon  came  to  be 
highly  appreciated  and  his  name  became  coupled  with  many 
celebrated  cases,  some  of  which  found  their  way  into  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Retiracy  from  public  life  did  not  mean  loss  of  interest  in 
affairs  appertaining  to  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men.  He 
was  constantly  consulted  by  public  bodies,  and  invited  by 
educational  and  charitable  organizations.  Many  of  his 
letters  of  reply  found  their  way  into  print,  and  they  all 
(604) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


605 


evinced  the  same  broad  view,  the  same  candor  and  earnest- 
ness of  sentiment  that  had  made  him  a popular  favorite 
when  in  official  position. 

When  occasion  called  for  a public  expression  of  his  views 
on  the  much  mooted  question  of  “ free  and  unlimited  coin- 
age of  silver,”  in  1891,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  write  an 
elaborate  letter,  in  which  he  took  distinctive  ground  against 
a system  which  invalidated  our  silver  dollar,  and  taxed  the 
power  of  our  gold  reserve  to  carry  it. 

The  letter  was  dated  Feb.  10,  1891,  and  was  his  reply  to 
a request  to  address  a meeting  of  business  men  in  New 
York  City,  called  for  Feb.  1 1,  for  the  purpose  of  voicing  op- 
position to  the  free  silver  legislation  then  pending  in  Con- 
gress. It  read  as  follows: — 

E.  Ellery  Anderson , Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I have  this  afternoon  received  your  note 
inviting  me  to  attend  to-morrow  evening  a meeting  called 
for  the  purpose  of  voicing  the  opposition  of  the  business 
men  of  our  city  to  “ free  coinage  of  silver  in  the  United 
States.”  I shall  not  be  able  to  attend  and  address  the  meet- 
ing as  you  request,  but  I am  glad  that  the  business  interests 
of  New  York  are  at  last  to  be  heard  on  the  subject.  It 
surely  cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to  make  a formal  expres- 
sion of  my  agreement  with  those  who  believe  that  the 
greatest  perils  would  be  invited  by  the  adoption  of  the 
scheme  embraced  in  the  measure  now  pending  in  Congress 
for  an  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  at  our  mints. 

If  we  have  developed  an  unexpected  capacity  for  the 
assimilation  of  a largely  increased  volume  of  the  currency, 
and  even  if  we  have  demonstrated  the  usefulness  of  such  an 
increase,  these  conditions  fall  far  short  of  insuring  us  against 
disaster  if  in  the  present  situation  we  enter  upon  the  dan- 
gerous and  reckless  experiment  of  free,  unlimited  and  inde- 
pendent silver  coinage.  Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Feb.  10,  1891. 


6o6 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


His  views  were  accepted  by  the  financial  world  as  sound 
in  every  particular,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  timely 
and  forceful  expression  of  them  contributed  largely  to  the 
demand  for  his  renomination  at  Chicago ; at  least,  to  that 
measure  of  confidence  which  the  vital  interests  of  the 
country  expect  to  repose  in  those  who  are  called  to  preside 
over  its  affairs. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  in  private  life,  has  not  been  unmindful  of 
its  rational  enjoyment.  He  has  had  a rural  retreat  in  New 
Jersey,  for  the  delight  and  health  of  his  family.  He  has 
provided  a still  more  beautiful  and  permanent  summer  re- 
treat on  Buzzard’s  Bay,  which  he  calls  “ Gray  Gables  ” and 
where  he  enjoys  the  delights  of  fishing  and  driving.  He 
has  jaunted  it  to  remote  parts,  intermingling  with  party 
friends,  studying  public  sentiment,  and  broadening  his  views 
of  men  and  localities.  In  his  summer  home  on  the  outer 
coasts  of  the  Atlantic  he  has  found  congenial  society  among 
authors  and  men  of  genius,  and  that  rest  and  recreation 
which  is  beneficial  to  himself  and  family.  In  this  he  is 
philosophic.  The  hurly-burly  has  few  charms  for  him,  the 
quietude  of  the  beach  many.  As  a student  of  affairs,  he 
prefers  to  look  in  on  the  mighty  surge  of  events.  His  view 
is  thus  unimpassioned,  his  judgment  unclouded. 

A correspondent  thus  sketches  Mr.  Cleveland’s  home  and 
home  life : — 

“ Gray  Gables,  by  the  road,  is  four  miles  from  the  tele- 
graph office ; as  the  birds  fly  it  is  less  than  two.  In  this 
case  we  shall  have  to  reckon  by  the  road,  as  the  birds  are 
not  carrying  dispatches  this  year. 

“ Buzzard’s  Bay,  as  those  who  have  travelled  over  the  Old 
Colony  Road  to  the  Cape  or  the  Vineyard  know,  is  quite 
an  important  railroad  junction.  It  is  a village  of  the  town 
of  Bourne.  The  population  of  the  village,  which  clusters 


Hon.  Daniel  W.  Voorhees. 

Born  in  Butler  co.,  Ohio,  September  26, 1827  ; moved  in  infancy  with 
parents  to  Indiana;  graduated  at  Indiana  Asbury,  1849;  studied  law 
and  began  practice,  1851 ; United  States  District  Attorney  for  Indiana, 
1858-61;  elected  to  37th,  38th,  39th,  40th,  41st  and  42d  Congresses; 
appointed  Senator  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  death  of  O.  P.  Morton,  No- 
vember 12,  1877 ; distinguished  as  advocate  of  greenback  currency  and1 
free  silver  coinage;  elected  to  Senate,  1879;  re-elected,  1885  and  in 
1891 ; eminent  as  leader  and  exponent  of  Democracy ; member  of  Com- 
mittees on  Finance,  Immigration,  Library,  and  Chairman  of  Committee 
to  provide  additional  accommodations  for  Library  of  Congress. 

(6°7) 


TUI  UBRiW 

Of  THfc 

liSEM-  0? 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


609 


about  the  station,  is  not  large.  The  inhabitants  will  not  ex- 
ceed 300  or  400. 

“ To  reach  Gray  Gables  from  the  railroad  station  it  is 
necessary  to  first  travel  a mile  and  a half  in  the  opposite 
direction.  The  reason  for  the  detour  is  there  is  no  highway 
bridge  across  the  Monument  River,  which  flows  through 
the  village  on  its  way  to  Buzzard’s  Bay,  and  which  it  is 
necessary  to  cross  in  order  to  reach  Mr.  Cleveland’s  residence. 

“ The  Cleveland  residence  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of 
Monument  River,  and  it  has  water  on  three  sides  of  it. 

“ Mr.  Cleveland  is  very  well  pleased  with  his  property. 
He  does  not  get  over  to  the  village  often,  but  Mrs.  Cleveland 
comes  over  nearly  every  day;  sometimes  twice  in  a day. 
Her  carriage  goes  regularly  to  the  post-office,  and  it  stops 
at  the  modest  little  stores,  too.  She  does  not  fail  to  do  her 
part  toward  supporting  the  institutions  of  the  place. 

“ One  hears  reports  of  her  here  similar  to  those  which  have 
come  a thousand  times  from  other  places  where  she  has 
lived.  Her  beauty,  affability,  courtesy,  and  general  good- 
ness are  praised  by  every  tongue.  She’s  what  I call  one  of 
God’s  own  women.” 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  a life  that  he  maintained  his 
hold  on  the  affections  of  his  party.  At  no  moment  after  his 
retiracy  did  he  lose  his  identity  or  cease  to  be  a party  idol. 
Let  come  what  would,  let  who  might  connive  and  aspire, 
the  question  of  his  availability  as  a Presidential  Candidate  in 
1892  never  came  into  doubt.  With  him  the  verdict  of  1888 
was  never  regarded  as  final.  There  was  no  other  exponent 
of  the  views  which  were  then  clouded  with  defeat,  but  which 
burst  into  victory  in  1890.  1888,  with  what  happened  after- 

wards, was  a drawn  battle;  1892  was  necessary,  under  the 
same  sterling  leadership,  to  test  finally  the  issue  so  ably, 
forcibly  and  directly  propounded  in  the  message  of  1887. 


X. 


CHICAGO  AND  RENOMINATION. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  of  .<892  met  at 
Chicago,  pursuant  to  the  call  of  the  National  Committee,  on 
June  21,  1892.  For  months  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention  the  quiet  sentiment  of  the  masses  of  the  party 
had  been  cohering  about  Mr.  Cleveland.  He  was  no  as- 
pirant for  nomination,  and  was  doing  nothing  to  elicit  pop- 
ular favor  or  to  control  State  Conventions. 

So  unwilling  was  he  to  appear  to  be  pushing  his  candi- 
dacy, that  on  April  8,  1892,  he  wrote  the  following  to  a 
friend  in  Chattanooga,  touching  the  question  of  his  own  re- 
nomination : — 

Lakewood,  N.  J.,  April  8,  1892. 

My  Dear  Sir  : I desire  to  thank  you  for  the  report  of 
the  meeting  at  Chattanooga,  which  you  so  kindly  sent  me, 
and  for  the  friendly  words  you  spoke  of  me  on  that  occa- 
sion. I am  exceedingly  anxious  to  have  our  party  do  ex- 
actly the  right  thing  at  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  I hope 
that  the  delegates  will  be  guarded  by  judgment  and  actuated 
by  true  Democratic  spirit  and  the  single  desire  to  succeed 
on  principle. 

I should  not  be  frank  if  I did  not  say  to  you  that  I often 
fear  I do  not  deserve  all  the  kind  things  such  friends  as  you 
say  of  me,  and  I have  frequent  misgivings  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  again  putting  me  in  nomination.  I therefore  am  anxious 
that  sentiment  and  too  unmeasured  personal  devotion  should 
be  checked  when  the  delegates  to  the  convention  reach  the 
period  of  deliberation.  In  any  event  there  will  be  no  dis- 
appointment for  me  in  the  result.  Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland, 


(610) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


611 


But  there  was  a magic  about  his  name  which  seemed  to 
touch  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  to  act  as  a spell  in  his 
behalf,  so  that  in  every  minor  convention  resolutions  directly 
in  his  favor  as  a candidate,  or  paying  him  the  highest 
respect,  were  the  order  of  the  hour. 

This  all  pervasive  and  general  popularity  led  to  the 
thought  that  a nomination  by  acclamation  would  be  almost 
a sure  result  at  Chicago.  But  the  discipline  of  a Conven- 
tion requires  something  more  than  mere  acclaim  to  insure 
results.  It  was  found  that  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  nomina- 
tion his  forces  must  be  marshalled  and  led.  Many  willing 
leaders  rose  to  assume  this  task. 

The  necessity  for  brave,  discreet  leadership  became  all 
the  more  imperative  by  reason  of  what  had  transpired  in 
New  York  State,  where  Senator  Hill  had  announced  his  own 
candidacy,  and  had  called  an  early  State  Convention  which 
selected  delegates  to  the  National  Convention,  pledged  to 
his  support.  This  hasty  action  gave  rise  to  a counter-move- 
ment, of  a popular  nature,  designed  to  show  where  the  sen- 
timent of  the  masses  of  the  party  in  New  York  really  lay. 
While  it  did  not  result  in  an  opposing  delegation  at  Chi- 
cago, it  served  to  subtract  from  the  efficacy  of  the  solid  Hill 
forces  and  to  reduce  them  to  the  plane  of  simple  manipula- 
tors of  a serious  situation. 

As  soon  as  the  Convention  air  was  sufficiently  clarified 
for  an  alignment  of  forces  it  became  manifest  that  nothing 
could  shake  the  strength  which  clustered  about  the  Cleve- 
land standards.  It  was  spontaneous,  enthusiastic,  resolved. 
True  it  had  lost  points  in  the  Committee  rooms,  and  had 
even  surrendered  to  an  adverse  temporary  chairman  of  the 
Convention,  but  in  this  it  had  not  lost  confidence,  and  per 
haps  had  shown  wisdom. 

The  Convention  was  called  to  orcjer  4t  12.45  of  June  21, 


6l2 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


by  Senator  Brice,  Chairman  of  the  National  Committee. 
He  announced  the  temporary  organization  and  placed  the 
gavel  in  the  hands  of  Hon.  Wm.  C.  Owens,  of  Kentucky, 
who  accepted  the  honor  in  an  eloquent  address.  The  ap- 
pointment of  the  usual  committees  followed  and  the  public 
work  of  the  day  was  practically  over. 

The  session  of  the  22d  was  destined  to  be  lengthy.  The 
reports  of  committees  were  in  order,  and  that  upon  the  plat- 
form— especially  the  tariff  clause — gave  rise  to  discussion. 
The  Convention  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  permanent 
organization,  and  the  chairman  became  the  Hon.  Wm.  L. 
Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  who  accepted  in  an  excellent 
speech.  And  the  night  session  was  to  be  still  more  lengthy. 
As  it  passed  along  it  became  manifest  that  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Cleveland  were  in  a mood  to  force  a ballot  before  adjourn- 
ment. There  was  no  excuse  for  further  delay,  their  forces 
were  well  in  hand  and  most  enthusiastic,  postponement  of 
decisive  action  might  prove  a loss  of  well-ascertained  ad- 
vantage. The  prime  rules  of  generalship  required  a show 
of  hands  at  that  precise  juncture. 

A motion  was  carried  to  call  the  roll  of  States  for  nomi- 
nations. The  names  of  Senator  David  B.  Hill,  of  New  York, 
and  Governor  Horace  Boies,  of  Iowa,  were  placed  in  nomi- 
nation, during  the  evening,  with  eloquent  speeches  and  amid 
much  applause.  But  the  applause  of  the  time  and  the  elo- 
quence of  the  occasion  seemed  reserved  for  the  nomination 
of  Cleveland.  Arkansas  yielded  to  New  Jersey,  when  her 
name  was  called,  and  Governor  Leon  Abbett  of  the  latter 
State  rose  to  present  Mr.  Cleveland’s  name  to  the  Conven- 
tion. He  arose  amid  deafening  cheers  and  thus  spoke  : — 

“ Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention : — In 
presenting  a name  to  this  convention,  I speak  for  the  united 
Democracy  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  whose  loyalty  to 


cfaiaw 


Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson. 

Born  in  Port  Ontario,  Oswego  co.,  N.  Y.,  January  17,  1847 ; gradu- 
ated  at  University  of  Michigan,  1867 ; studied  law  and  admitted  to  bar ; 
rose  rapidly  to  distinction  in  his  profession  and  acquired  a large  prac- 
tice ; Chairman  of  Michigan  State  Democratic  Committee  in  1876,  and 
1880  Chairman  of  Michigan  Delegation  in  National  Convention;  repre- 
sented Michigan  in  Democratic  National  Committee  since  1884;  ap- 
pointed by  President  Cleveland  to  be  Postmaster-General,  January  17, 
1888 ; an  able  official  and  popular  party  leader. 

(6!4) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


615 


the  Democratic  principles,  faithful  service  to  the  party,  and 
whose  contributions  to  its  success  entitle  it  to  the  respectful 
consideration  of  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States.  Its 
electoral  vote  has  always  been  cast  in  support  of  Democratic 
principles  and  Democratic  candidates.  [Cheers.] 

“ In  voicing  the  unanimous  wish  of  the  delegation  from 
New  Jersey,  I present  as  their  candidate  for  the  suffrage  of 
this  convention  the  name  of  a distinguished  Democratic 
statesman,  born  upon  its  soil,  for  whom  in  the  two  great 
Presidential  contests  the  State  of  New  Jersey  has  given  its 
electoral  vote.  [Cheers.] 

“ The  supreme  consideration  in  the  mind  of  the  Democ- 
racy of  New  Jersey  is  the  success  of  the  Democratic  party 
and  its  principles.  We  have  been  in  the  past  and  will  be  in 
the  future  ready  at  all  times  to  sacrifice  personal  preference 
in  deference  to  the  clear  expressions  of  the  will  of  the  De- 
mocracy of  the  Union.  It  is  because  this  name  will  awaken 
throughout  our  State  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Democracy  and 
insure  success,  it  is  because  he  represents  the  great  Demo- 
cratic principles  and  policy  upon  which  this  entire  conven- 
tion is  a unit ; it  is  because  we  believe  that  with  him  as  a 
candidate  the  Democracy  of  the  Union  wil  sweep  the  coun- 
try and  establish  its  principles  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land  that  we  offer  to  the  convention  as  a 
nominee,  the  choice  of  New  Jersey,  Grover  Cleveland. 
[Applause.] 

“ If  any  doubt  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  Democrats  of 
New  Jersey  of  his  ability  to  lead  the  great  Democratic  hosts 
to  victory,  they  would  not  present  his  name  to-day.  With 
them  success  of  the  party  and  the  establishment  of  its  prin- 
ciples are  beyond  their  love  and  admiration  for  any  man. 
[Cheers.]  We  feel  certain  that  every  Democratic  State, 
though  its  preference  may  be  for  some  other  distinguished 
Democrat,  will  give  its  warm,  enthusiastic  and  earnest  sup- 
port to  the  nominee  of  this  convention.  The  man  whom 
we  present  will  rally  to  his  party  thousands  of  independent 
voters,  whose  choice  is  determined  by  their  personal  con- 
viction that  the  candidate  will  represent  principles  dear  to 
them,  and  whose  public  life  and  policy  give  assurance  that 
28 


6i6 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


if  chosen  by  the  people  they  will  secure  an  honest,  pure  and 
conservative  administration  and  the  great  interest  of  the 
country  will  be  encouraged  and  protected. 

“ The  time  will  come  when  other  distinguished  Demo- 
crats who  have  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  this 
nomination  will  receive  that  consideration  to  which  the 
great  services  they  have  rendered  their  party  entitled 

them,  but  we  stand  to-day  in  the  presence  of  the  fact  that 
the  majority  of  the  Democratic  masses  throughout  the 
country,  the  rank  and  file,  the  millions  of  its  voters  demand 
the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland.  [Cheers.] 

“ This  sentiment  is  so  strong  and  overpowering  that  it  has 
effected  and  controlled  the  actions  of  delegates  who  would 
otherwise  present  the  name  of  some  distinguished  leader  of 
their  own  State,  with  whom  they  feel  victory  would  be 
assured  and  in  whom  the  entire  country  would  feel  confi- 
dence, but  the  people  have  spoken  and  favorite  sons  anq 
leaders  are  standing  aside  in  obedience  to  their  will. 
[Cheers.] 

“ Shall  w listen  to  the  voice  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
Union  ? Shall  we  place  on  our  banner  the  man  of  our 
choice,  the  man  in  whom  they  believe,  or  shall  we  for  any 
consideration  of  policy  or  expediency  hesitate  to  obey  their 
will  ? [Cheers.] 

“ I have  sublime  faith  in  the  expression  of  the  people 
when  it  is  clear  and  decisive.  When  the  question  before 
them  is  one  that  has  excited  discussion  and  debate ; when 
it  appeals  to  their  interests  and  their  feelings,  and  calls  for 
the  exercise  of  their  judgment,  and  they  then  say  they  want 
this  man  and  we  can  elect  him,  we,  their  representatives, 
must  not  disobey  nor  disappoint  them.  It  is  incumbent 
upon  us  to  obey  their  wishes  and  concur  in  their  judgment ; 

then,  having  given  them  the  candidate  of  their  choice,  they 
will  give  us  their  best,  their  most  energetic  efforts  to  secure 
success  [Cheers.] 

“ We  confidently  rely  upon  the  loyal  and  successful  work 
of  the  Democratic  leaders  who  have  advocated  other  candi- 
dates. We  know  that  in  the  great  State  across  the  river 
from  New  Jersey,  now  controlled  by  the  Democratic  party, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


617 


there  is  no  Democrat  who  will  shirk  the  duty  of  making 
every  effort  to  secure  the  success  of  the  candidate  of  this 
convention,  notwithstanding  his  judgment  may  differ  from 
that  of  the  majority.  The  Democracy  of  New  York  and  its 
great  leaders,  whose  efforts  and  splendid  generalship  have 
given  to  us  a Democratic  Senator  and  Governor,  will  always 
be  true  to  the  great  party  they  represent;  they  will  not 
waver,  nor  will  they  rest  in  the  coming  canvass  until  they 
have  achieved  success. 

“ Their  grand  victories  of  the  past,  their  natural  and 
honorable  ambition,  their  unquestioned  Democracy,  will 
make  them  arise  and  fight  as  never  before,  and  with  those 
that  they  represent  and  lead  they  will  march  in  the  great 
independent  vote  and  we  will  again  secure  Democratic  vic- 
tory in  New  York.  The  grand  Democrats  under  whose 
leadership  the  city  and  State  of  New  York  are  now  gov- 
erned will  give  to  the  cause  the  great  benefit  of  their  or- 
ganizations. 

“ The  thundering  echoes  of  this  convention  announcing 
the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  will  not  have  died  out 
over  the  hills  and  through  the  valleys  of  this  land  before 
you  will  hear  and  see  all  our  leaders  rallying  to  the  support 
of  our  candidate.  They  will  begin  their  efforts  for  organi- 
zation and  success,  and  continue  their  work  until  victory 
crowns  their  efforts. 

“All  Democrats  will  fight  for  victory,  and  they  will  suc- 
ceed because  the  principles  of  the  party  enunciated  here  are 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  country  at  large,  and  because 
the  people  of  this  land  have  unquestioning  faith  that  Grover 
Cleveland  will  give  the  country  a pure,  honest  and  stable 
government,  and  an  administration  by  which  the  great  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  country  and  the  agricultural  and  labor 
interests  of  the  masses  will  receive  proper  and  due  considera- 
tion. 

“ The  question  has  been  asked  why  it  is  that  the  masses 
of  the  party  demand  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  ? 
Why  is  it  that  this  man  who  has  no  office  to  distribute,  no 
wealth  to  command  should  have  stirred  the  spontaneous 
support  of  the  great  body  of  Democracy  ? Why  is  it  that 


6i8 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


with  all  that  has  been  urged  against  him  the  people  still  cry 
give  us  Cleveland  ? Why  is  it,  though  he  has  pronounced 
in  honest,  clear  and  able  language  his  views  upon  questions 
upon  which  some  of  his  party  may  differ  with  him  that  he 
is  still  near  and  dear  to  the  masses  ? 

“ It  is  because  he  has  crystallized  into  a living  issue  the 
great  principle  upon  which  this  battle  is  to  be  fought  out. 
If  he  did  not  create  tariff  reform,  he  made  it  a Presidential 
issue.  He  vitalized  it,  and  presented  it  to  our  party  as  the 
issue  for  which  we  ought  to  fight  and  continue  to  battle  un- 
til upon  it  victory  is  now  assured. 

“ There  are  few  men  in  his  position  who  would  have  the 
courage  to  boldly  make  the  issue  and  present  it  so  clearly 
and  forcibly  as  he  did  in  his  great  message  of  1887.  I 
believe  that  his  policy  then  was  to  force  a national  issue 
which  would  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  the  people.  We 
must  honor  a man  who  is  honest  enough  and  bold  enough 
under  such  circumstances  to  proclaim  that  the  success  of 
the  party  upon  principles  is  better  than  evasion  or  shirking 
of  true  national  issues  for  temporary  success.  When  vic- 
tory is  obtained  upon  a principle,  it  forms  the  solid  founda- 
tion of  party  success  in  the  future.  It  is  no  longer  the 
question  of  a battle  to  be  won  on  the  mistakes  of  our  foes, 
but  it  is  a victory  to  be  accomplished  by  a charge  along  the 
whole  line  under  the  banner  of  principle. 

“ There  is  another  reason  why  the  people  demand  his 
nomination.  They  feel  that  the  tariff  reform  views  of  Pres- 
ident Cleveland  and  the  principles  laid  down  in  his  great 
message,  whatever  its  temporary  effect  may  have  been,  give 
us  a live  and  a vital  issue  to  fight  for,  which  has  made  the 
great  victories  since  1888  possible.  It  consolidated  in  one 
solid  phalanx  the  Democracy  of  the  nation.  In  every  State 
of  this  Union  that  policy  has  been  placed  in  Democratic 
platforms,  and  our  battles  have  been  fought  upon  it,  and 
this  great  body  of  representative  Democrats  have  seen  its 
good  results. 

“ Every  man  in  this  Convention  recognizes  the  policy  of 
the  party.  In  Massachusetts  it  gave  us  a 4 Russell ; ’ in  Iowa 
it  gave  us  a ‘ Boies.’  In  Wisconsin  it  gave  us  a 4 Peck  ’ for 


* 


' f Wsm 


lit v 


<4 


Hon.  John  0.  Carlisle. 


j Born  in  Kenton  co.,  Ky.,  September  5,  1835;  educated  in  common 
[schools  and  as  teacher;  admitted  to  bar,  1-858;  member  of  Kentucky 
State  Legislature,  1859-61 ; elected  to  State  Senate,  1866  and  1869 ; 
elected  Lieutenant-Governor  of  State,  1871;  elected  to  45th,  46th,  47th, 
48th,  49th,  50th  and  51st  Congresses;  presided  as  Speaker  of  House  in 
48th,  49th  and  50th  Congresses ; a dignified  officer  and  skilled  parlia- 
mentarian; elected  to  United  States  Senate,  as  Democrat,  to  succeed 
Senator  Beck,  deceased,  May  17,  1890;  member  of  Committees  on  Fi- 
nance, Territories,  Canadian  Relations,  Indian  Depredations  and  Wo- 
man’s Suffrage ; conspicuous  in  party  affairs  and  a recognized  exponent 
of  Democratic  thought. 


(620) 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


621 


Governor  and  Vilas  for  Senator.  In  Michigan  it  gave  us 
Winans  for  Governor,  and  gave  us  a Democratic  Legislature, 
and  will  give  us  eight  electoral  votes  for  President.  In  1889, 
in  Ohio,  it  gave  u James  Campbell  for  Governor,  and  in 
1891,  to  defeat  him,  it  required  the  power,  the  wealth,  and 
the  machinery  of  the  entire  Republican  party. 

“ In  Pennsylvania  it  gave  us  Robert  E.  Pattison ; in  Con- 
necticut it  gave  us  a Democratic  Governor  who  was  kept 
out  of  office  by  the  infamous  conduct  of  the  Republican 
party.  In  New  Hampshire  it  gave  us  a Legislature  of  which 
we  were  defrauded.  In  Illinois  it  gave  us  a Palmer  for 
Senator,  and  in  Nebraska  it  gave  us  Boyd  for  Governor.  In 
the  great  Southern  States  it  has  continued  in  power  Demo- 
cratic Governors  and  Democratic  Legislatures.  In  New 
Jersey  the  power  of  the  Democracy  has  been  strengthened 
and  the  Legislature  and  Executive  are  both  Democratic. 
In  the  great  State  of  New  York  it  gave  us  Hill  for  Senator 
and  Roswell  P.  Flower  for  Governor.  [Loud  cheering.] 

“ With  all  these  glorious  achievements  it  is  the  wisest  and 
best  party  policy  to  nominate  again  the  man  whose  policy 
made  these  successes  possible.  The  people  believe  that 
these  victories  which  gave  us  a Democratic  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  1890,  and  Democratic  Governors  and  Sen- 
ators in  Republican  and  doubtful  States  are  due  to  the  cour- 
age and  wisdom  of  Grover  Cleveland.  And  so  believing 
they  recognize  him  as  their  great  leader. 

“ In  presenting  his  name  to  the  Convention,  it  is  no  reflec- 
tion upon  any  of  them  as  the  leaders  of  the  party.  The 
victories  which  have  been  obtained  are  not  alone  the  heritage 
of  these  States ; they  belong  to  the  whole  party.  I feel  that 
every  Democratic  State  and  that  every  individual  Democrat 
has  reason  to  rejoice  and  be  proud  and  applaud  these 
splendid  successes.  The  candidacy  of  Grover  Cleveland  is 
not  a reflection  upon  others.  It  is  not  antago-  :stic  to  any 
great  Democratic  leader.  He  comes  before  this  Convention, 
not  as  the  candidate  of  any  one  State — he  is  the  choice  of 
the  great  majority  of  Democratic  voters. 

“ The  Democracy  of  New  Jersey,  therefore,  presents  to 
this  Convention,  in  this,  the  people’s  year,  the  nominee  of 


622 


TROVER  CLEVELAND. 


the  people,  the  plain,  blunt,  honest  citizens,  the  idol  of  the 
Democratic  masses — Grover  Cleveland.”  [Cheers.] 

When  Governor  Abbett  named  Cleveland  the  hurrah  of  an 
hour  before  was  repeated.  The  delegates  sprang  to  their 
feet,  many  of  them  mounted  the  chairs,  hats  were  thrown  into 
the  air,  and  the  noise  of  the  cheering  was  deafening. 

The  nomination  was  seconded  by  half  a score  of  speakers 
from  different  States,  who  vied  with  each  other  in  praise  of 
Mr.  Cleveland  and  whose  eloquence  contributed  to  the 
incessant  flow  of  good  feeling  and  applause. 

Balloting  at  length  began.  It  was  late,  and  the  end  of 
the  first  ballot  was  not  reached  till  3.30  in  the  morning. 
But  it  was  most  decisive.  The  well-managed  Cleveland 
forces  had  stuck  to  their  man  and  their  faith,  and  had  crowned 
both  with  victory.  They  had  rolled  up  far  more  votes  than 
the  necessary  two-thirds  required  to  nominate,  and  had  made 
the  “ man  of  destiny  ” again  their  standard-  bearer.  The 
nomination  was  made  unanimous,  amid  a storm  of  ap- 
plause. 

FIGURES  OF  THE  BALLOT. 

C 

States.  % 

> 

<u 

U 

Alabama 14 

Arkansas 1 6 

California 18 

Colorado . . 

Connecticut 12 

Delaware 6 

Florida 5 

Georgia 17 

Idaho 

Illinois 48 

Indiana 30 

Iowa 

Kansas 20 

Kentucky 18 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


623 


*6 

d 

—* 

c 

0 

States. 

'w 

CO 

0 

j=> 

0. 

S d 
s 3 

CO 

S 

V 

> 

V 

0 

Hill 

'0 

PQ 

i_ 

0 

% 

a 

O 

& a 

> 

<u 

th 

Louisiana. 

1 

1 1 

1 

Maine 

• • 9 

1 

1 

Maryland 

..  6 

9/4 

Massachusetts . . . 

..  24 

4 

r 

Michigan 

..  28 

Minnesota 

..  18 

Mississippi 

. . 8 

3 

3 

. . 

4 

Missouri 

••  34 

Montana 

6 

Nebraska 

• 15 

1 

Nevada 

4 

2 

>y 

<U 

C 

E 

£ 


New  Hampshire. . . 8 

New  Jersey 20 

New  York 

North  Carolina  ...  3 

North  Dakota 6 

Ohio 14 

Oregon 8 

Pennsylvania ......  64 

Rhode  Island 8 

South  Carolina ....  2 

South  Dakota 7 

Tennessee 24 

Texas 23 

Vermont 8 

Virginia 12 

Washington 8 

West  Virginia 7 

Wisconsin 24 

Wyoming 3 

Territories. 

Alaska 2 

Arizona 5 

District  of  Columbia  2 

New  Mexico 4 

Oklahoma 2 

Utah 2 

Indian. 2 


16 


3 13 


16% 


Totals  617  ]/z  1 15 
Number  of  votes  cast,  909 yz. 
Necessary  to  choice,  607. 


103 


2 36 X 14  16 ^ 


PLATFORM  OF  1892. 

PLEDGE  OF  PRINCIPLES. — The  representatives  of 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  United  States,  in  National  Con- 


624 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


vention  assembled,  do  reaffirm  their  allegiance  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  party  as  formulated  by  Jefferson  and  exempli- 
fied by  the  long  and  illustrious  line  of  nine  of  his  successors 
in  Democratic  leadership,  from  Madison  to  Cleveland ; we 
believe  the  public  welfare  demands  that  these  principles  be 
applied  to  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  Government,  through 
the  accession  to  power  of  the  party  that  advocates  them ; 
and  we  solemnly  declare  that  the  need  of  a return  to  these 
fundamental  principles  of  a free,  popular  government,  based 
on  Home  Rule  and  individual  liberty,  was  never  more 
urgent  than  now,  when  the  tendency  to  centralize  all  power 
at  the  Federal  Capital  has  become  a menace  to  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States  that  strike  at  the  very  roots  of  our 
government  under  the  Constitution  as  framed  by  the  fathers 
of  the  Republic. 

THE  FORCE  BILL. — We  warn  the  people  of  our  com- 
mon country,  jealous  for  the  preservation  of  their  free  insti- 
tutions, that  the  policy  of  Federal  control  of  elections  to 
which  the  Republican  party  has  committed  itself  is  fraught 
with  the  gravest  dangers,  scarcely  less  momentous  than 
would  result  from  a revolution  practically  establishing  a 
monarchy  on  the  ruins  of  the  republic.  It  strikes  at  the 
North  as  well  as  the  South,  and  injures  the  colored  citizen 
even  more  than  the  white ; it  means  a horde  of  deputy 
marshals  at  every  polling  place,  armed  with  Federal  power, 
returning  boards  appointed  and  controlled  by  Federal 
authority ; the  outrage  of  the  electoral  rights  of  the  people 
in  the  several  States;  the  subjugation  of  the  colored  people 
to  the  control  of  the  party  in  power  and  the  reviving  of  race 
antagonisms,  now  happily  abated,  of  the  utmost  peril  to  the 
safety  and  happiness  of  all — a measure  deliberately  and 
justly  described  by  a leading  Republican  Senator  as  “the 
most  infamous  bill  that  ever  crossed  the  threshold  of  the 
Senate.”  Such  a policy,  if  sanctioned  by  law,  would  mean 
the  dominance  of  a self-perpetuating  oligarchy  of  office- 
holders, and  the  party  first  intrusted  with  its  machinery 
could  be  dislodged  from  power  only  by  an  appeal  to  the  re- 
served right  of  the  people  to  resist  oppression  which  is  in- 
herent in  all  self-governing  communities.  Two  years  ago 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


625 


this  revolutionary  policy  was  emphatically  condemned  by 
the  people  at  the  polls  ; but,  in  contempt  of  that  verdict,  the 
Republican  party  has  defiantly  declared,  in  its  latest  authori- 
tative utterance,  that  its  success  in  the  coming  elections  will 
mean  the  enactment  of  the  Force  Bill  and  the  usurpation  of 
despotic  control  over  elections  in  all  the  States. 

Believing  that  the  preservation  of  Republican  government 
in  the  United  States  is  dependent  upon  the  defeat  of  this 
policy  of  legalized  force  and  fraud,  we  invite  the  support  of 
all  citizens  who  desire  to  see  the  Constitution  maintained  in 
its  integrity  with  the  laws  pursuant  thereto  which  have 
given  our  country  a hundred  years  of  unexampled  pros- 
perity; and  we  pledge  the  Democratic  party,  if  it  be  in- 
trusted with  power,  not  only  to  the  defeat  of  the  Force  Bill 
but  also  to  relentless  opposition  to  the  Republican  policy 
of  profligate  expenditure,  which  in  the  short  space  of  two 
years  has  squandered  an  enormous  surplus  and  emptied  an 
overflowing  Treasury,  after  piling  new  burdens  of  taxation 
upon  the  already  overtaxed  labor  of  the  country. 

TARIFF  AND  LABOR. — The  tariff  plank  as  reported 
to  the  Convention  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  began 
as  follows : — 

“ We  reiterate  the  oft-repeated  doctrines  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  that  the  necessity  of  the  government  is  the  only 
justification  for  taxations,  and  whenever  a tax  is  unnecessary 
it  is  unjustifiable;  that  when  Custom  House  taxation  is 
levied  upon  articles  of  any  kind  produced  in  this  country, 
the  difference  between  the  cost  of  labor  here  and  labor 
abroad,  when  such  a difference  exists,  fully  measures  any 
possible  benefits  to  labor,  and  the  enormous  additional  im- 
positions of  the  existing  tariff  fall  with  crushing  force  upon 
our  farmers  and  workingmen,  and,  for  the  mere  advantage 
of  the  few  whom  it  enriches,  exact  from  labor  a grossly  un- 
just share  of  the  expenses  of  the  government,  and  we  de- 
mand such  a revision  of  the  tariff  laws  as  will  remove  their 
iniquitous  inequalities,  lighten  their  oppressions  and  put 
them  on  a constitutional  and  equitable  basis. 

“ But,  in  making  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is  not  proposed  to 


626 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to  promote  their 
healthy  growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this  government, 
taxes  collected  at  the  Custom  House  have  been  the  chief 
source  of  Federal  revenue.  Such  they  must  continue  to  be. 
Moreover,  many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon  legisla- 
tion for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of  law 
must  be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus 
involved.  The  process  of  reform  must  be  subject  in  the 
execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice.” 

But  the  above  was  stricken  out  by  a majority  vote  in 
Convention,  and  the  plank  as  adopted  read  as  follows : — 

We  denounce  Republican  Protection  as  a fraud — as  a 
robbery  of  a great  majority  of  the  American  people  for  the 
benefit  of  a few.  We  declare  it  to  be  a fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  the  Democratic  party  that  the  government  has  no 
constitutional  power  to  impose  and  collect  a dollar  for  tax 
except  for  purposes  of  revenue  only,  and  demand  that  the 
collection  of  such  taxes  be  imposed  by  the  government 
when  only  honestly  and  economically  administered. 

We  denounce  the  McKinley  Tariff  law  enacted  by  the 
Fifty-first  Congress  as  the  culminating  atrocity  of  class  leg- 
islation : we  endorse  the  efforts  made  by  the  Democrats  of 
the  present  Congress  to  modify  its  most  oppressive  features 
in  the  direction  of  free  raw  materials  and  cheaper  manufac- 
tured goods  that  enter  into  general  consumption,  and  we 
promise  its  repeal  as  one  of  the  beneficent  results  that  will 
follow  the  action  of  the  people  in  entrusting  power  to  the 
Democratic  party.  Since  the  McKinley  tariff  went  into 
operation  there  have  been  ten  reductions  of  the  wages  of 
laboring  men  to  one  increase.  We  deny  that  there  has  been 
any  increase  of  prosperity  to  the  country  since  that  tariff 
went  into  operation,  and  we  point  to  the  dulness  and  distress, 
the  wage  reductions  and  strikes  in  the  iron  trade  as  the  best 
possible  evidence  that  no  such  prosperity  has  resulted  from 
the  McKinley  act. 

We  call  the  attention  of  thoughtful  Americans  to  the  fact 
that  after  thirty  years  of  restrictive  taxes  against  the  impor- 
tation of  foreign  wealth  in  exchange  for  our  agricultural 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


627 


surplus  the  homes  and  farms  of  the  country  have  become 
burdened  with  a real  estate  mortgage  debt  of  over  $2,500,- 
000,000,  exclusive  of  all  other  forms  of  indebtedness ; that 
in  one  of  the  chief  agricultural  States  of  the  West  there  ap- 
pears a real  estate  mortgage  debt  averaging  $165  per  capita 
of  the  total  population,  and  that  similar  conditions  and  ten- 
dencies are  shown  to  exist  in  the  other  agricultural  export- 
ing States.  We  denounce  a policy  which  fosters  no  industry 
so  much  as  it  does  that  of  the  Sheriff. 

RECIPROCITY. — Trade  interchange  on  the  basis  of  re- 
ciprocal advantages  to  the  countries  participating  is  a time- 
honored  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  faith,  but  we  denounce 
the  sham  reciprocity  which  juggles  with  the  people’s  desire 
for  enlarged  foreign  markets  and  freer  exchanges  by  pre- 
tending to  establish  closer  trade  relations  for  a country 
whose  articles  of  export  are  almost  exclusively  agricultural 
products  with  other  countries  that  are  also  agricultural, 
while  erecting  a Custom  House  barrier  of  prohibitive  tariff 
taxes  against  the  richest  countries  of  the  world  that  stand 
ready  to  take  our  entire  surplus  of  products  and  to  exchange 
therefor  commodities  which  are  necessaries  and  comforts  of 
life  among  our  own  people. 

TRUSTS. — We  recognize  in  the  trusts  and  combinations 
which  are  designed  to  enable  capital  to  secure  more  than  its 
just  share  of  the  joint  product  of  capital  and  labor  a natural 
consequence  of  the  prohibitive  taxes  which  prevent  the  free 
competition  which  is  the  life  of  honest  trade ; but  we  believe 
their  worst  evils  can  be  abated  by  law,  and  we  demand  the 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws  made  to  prevent  and  control 
them,  together  with  such  further  legislation  in  restraint  of 
their  abuses  as  experience  may  show  to  be  necessary. 

PUBLIC  LANDS. — The  Republican  party,  while  pro- 
fessing a policy  of  reserving  the  public  land  for  small  hold- 
ings by  actual  settlers,  has  given  away  the  people’s  heritage, 
till  now  a few  railroads  and  non-resident  aliens,  individual 
and  corporate,  possess  a larger  area  than  that  of  all  our 
farms  between  the  two  seas.  The  last  Democratic  admin- 
istration reversed  the  improvident  and  unwise  policy  of  the 


628 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Republican  party  touching  the  public  domain,  and  reclaimed 
from  corporations  and  syndicates,  alien  and  domestic,  and 
restored  to  the  people  nearly  100,000,000  acres  of  valuable 
land,  to  be  sacredly  held  as  homesteads  for  our  citizens,  and 
we  pledge  ourselves  to  continue  this  policy  until  every  acre 
of  land  so  unlawfully  held  shall  be  reclaimed  and  restored 
to  the  people. 

SILVER  COINAGE. — We  denounce  the  Republican 
legislation  known  as  the  Sherman  Act  of  1890  as  a cowardly 
makeshift,  fraught  with  possibilities  of  danger  in  the  future, 
which  should  make  all  its  supporters,  as  well  as  its  author, 
anxious  for  its  speedy  repeal.  We  hold  to  the  use  of  both 
gold  and  silver  as  the  standard  money  of  the  country,  and 
to  the  coinage  of  both  gold  and  silver,  without  discriminat- 
ing against  either  metal  or  charge  for  mintage,  the  dollar 
unit  of  coinage  of  both  metals  must  be  of  equal  intrinsic 
and  exchangeable  value,  or  be  adjusted  through  international 
agreement  or  by  such  safeguards  of  legislation  as  shall  in- 
sure the  maintenance  of  the  parity  of  the  two  metals,  and 
the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at  all  times  in  the  markets 
and  in  the  payment  of  debts,  and  we  demand  that  all  paper 
currency  shall  be  kept  at  par  with  and  redeemable  in  such 
coin.  We  insist  upon  this  policy  as  specially  necessary  for 
the  protection  of  the  farmers  and  laboring  classes,  the  first 
and  most  defenceless  victims  of  unstable  money  and  a fluc- 
tuating currency. 

BANK  TAXATION. — We  recommend  that  the  prohib- 
itory ten  per  cent,  tax  on  State  bank  issues  be  repealed. 

PUBLIC  OFFICES. — Public  office  is  a public  trust.  We 
reaffirm  the  declaration  of  the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention of  1876  for  the  reform  of  the  Civil  Service,  and  we 
call  for  the  honest  enforcement  of  all  laws  regulating  the 
same.  The  nomination  of  a President,  as  in  the  recent  Re- 
publican Convention,  by  delegations  composed  largely  of 
his  appointees,  holding  office  at  his  pleasure,  is  a scandalous 
satire  upon  free  popular  institutions  and  a startling  illustra- 
tion of  the  methods  by  which  a President  may  gratify  his 
ambition.  We  denounce  a policy  under  which  Federal 


Hon.  Charles  F.  Crisp. 

Born  in  Sheffield,  England,  January  29,  1845,  of  American  parents; 
educated  in  common  schools  of  Savannah  and  Macon,  Ga. ; entered 
Confederate  army,  May,  1861  ; a prisoner  of  war,  1864-65;  studied  law 
in  Americus,  Ga.,  and  admitted  to  bar,  1866;  practiced  in  Ellaville ; 
appointed  Solicitor-general  in  1872  and  again  in  1873 ; moved  to  Americus 
in  1873;  appointed  Judge  of  Superior  Court,  1876,  and  elected  to  same, 
1878  ; re-elected  Judge,  1880  ; elected  to  48th,  49th,  50th,  51st  and  52d 
Congresses  ; elected  Speaker  of  House  in  52d  Congress,  after  a long  and 
exciting  canvass,  his  leading  opponent  being  Roger  Q.  Mills,  of  Texas. 

(6  .,) 


GROVER  CEEVELAND. 


631 


office-holders  usurp  control  of  party  conventions  in  the 
States,  and  we  pledge  the  Democratic  party  to  the  reform 
of  these  and  all  other  abuses  which  threaten  individual  lib- 
erty and  local  self-government. 

FOREIGN  POLICY. — The  Democratic  party  is  the 
only  party  that  has  ever  given  the  country  a foreign  policy 
consistent  and  vigorous,  compelling  respect  abroad  and  in- 
spiring confidence  at  home.  While  avoiding  entangling 
alliances,  it  has  aimed  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with 
other  nations,  and  especially  with  our  neighbors  on  the 
American  Continent,  whose  destiny  is  closely  linked  with 
our  own ; and  we  view  with  alarm  the  tendency  to  a policy 
of  irritation  and  bluster  which  is  liable  at  any  time  to  con- 
front us  with  the  alternative  of  humiliation  or  war.  We 
favor  the  maintenance  of  a navy  strong  enough  for  all  pur- 
poses of  national  defence  and  to  properly  maintain  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  the  country  abroad. 

FOREIGN  OPPRESSION.— This  country  has  always 
been  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  from  every  land — exiles 
for  conscience  sake — and  in  the  spirit  of  the  founders  of  our 
government  we  condemn  the  oppression  practiced  by  the 
Russian  Government  upon  its  Lutheran  and  Jewish  sub- 
jects, and  we  call  upon  our  national  government,  in  the 
interest  of  justice  and  humanity,  by  all  just  and  proper 
means  to  use  its  prompt  and  best  efforts  to  bring  about  a 
cessation  of  these  cruel  persecutions  in  the  dominions  of 
the  Czar  and  to  secure  to  the  oppressed  equal  rights. 

We  tender  our  profound  and  earnest  sympathy  to  those 
lovers  of  freedom  who  are  struggling  for  Home  Rule  and 
the  great  cause  of  local  self-government  in  Ireland. 

CONTRACT  LABOR. — We  heartily  approve  all  legiti- 
mate efforts  to  prevent  the  United  States  from  being  used  as 
the  dumping  ground  for  the  known  criminals  and  profes- 
sional paupers  of  Europe,  and  we  demand  the  rigid  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  against  Chinese  immigration  or  the 
importation  of  foreign  workmen  under  contract,  to  degrade 
American  labor  and  lessen  its  wages ; but  we  condemn  and 


632 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


denounce  any  and  all  attempts  to  restrict  the  immigration 
of  the  industrious  and  worthy  of  foreign  lands. 

PENSIONS. — This  convention  hereby  renews  the  expres- 
sion of  appreciation  of  the  patriotism  of  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  Union  in  the  war  for  its  preservation,  and  we 
favor  just  and  liberal  pensions  for  all  disabled  Union  sol- 
diers, their  widows  and  dependents,  but  we  demand  that  the 
work  of  the  Pension  Office  shall  be  done  industriously,  im- 
partially and  honestly.  We  denounce  the  present  adminis- 
tration of  that  office  as  incompetent,  corrupt,  disgraceful  and 
dishonest. 

MISSISSIPPI  IMPROVEMENTS.  — The  Federal 
Government  should  care  for  and  improve  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  and  other  great  waterways  of  the  repub- 
lic, so  as  to  secure  for  the  interior  States  easy  and  cheap 
transportation  to  the  tidewater.  When  any  waterway 
of  the  republic  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  demand  the 
aid  of  the  government,  such  aid  should  be  extended  on  a 
definite  plan  of  continuous  work  until  permanent  improve- 
ment is  secured. 

NICARAGUA  CANAL. — For  purposes  of  national  de- 
fence and  the  promotion  of  commerce  between  the  States 
we  recognize  the  early  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Ca- 
nal and  its  protection  against  foreign  control  as  of  great 
importance  to  the  United  States. 

COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  — Recognizing  the 
World’s  Columbian  Exposition  as  a national  under- 
taking of  vast  importance,  in  which  the  general  gov- 
ernment has  invited  the  co-operation  of  all  the  powers 
of  the  world,  and  appreciating  the  acceptance  by  many  of 
such  powers  of  the  invitation  so  extended,  and  the  broad 
and  liberal  efforts  being  made  by  them  to  contribute  to  the 
grandeur  of  the  undertaking,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that 
Congress  should  make  such  necessary  financial  provision  as 
shall  be  requisite  to  the  maintenance  of  the  national  honor 
and  public  faith. 

POPULAR  EDUCATION. — Popular  education  being 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


633 


the  only  safe  basis  of  popular  suffrage,  we  recom- 
mend to  the  several  States  most  liberal  appropriations 
for  the  public  schools.  Free  common  schools  are  the 
nursery  of  good  government,  and  they  have  always  re- 
ceived the  fostering  care  of  the  Democratic  party,  which 
favors  every  means  of  increasing  intelligence.  Freedom  of 
education,  being  an  essential  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  as 
well  as  a necessity  for  the  development  of  intelligence,  must 
not  be  interfered  with  under  any  pretext  whatever.  We  are 
opposed  to  State  interference  with  parental  rights  and  rights 
of  conscience  in  the  education  of  children  as  an  infringement 
of  the  fundamental  Democratic  doctrine  that  the  largest  in- 
dividual liberty  consistent  with  the  rights  of  others  insures 
the  highest  type  of  American  citizenship  and  the  best  gov- 
ernment. 

NEW  STATES. — We  approve  the  action  of  the  present 
House  of  Representatives  in  passing  bills  for  the  admission 
into  the  Union  as  States  of  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  and  we  favor  the  early  admission  of  all  the 
Territories  having  necessary  population  and  resources  to 
admit  them  to  Statehood,  and  while  they  remain'Territories 
we  hold  that  the  officials  appointed  to  administer  the  gov- 
ernment of  any  Territory,  together  with  the  Districts  of 
Columbia  and  Alaska,  should  be  bona  fide  residents  of  the 
Territory  or  district  in  which  their  duties  are  to  be  per- 
formed. The  Democratic  party  believes  in  Home  Rule 
and  the  control  of  their  own  affairs  by  the  people  of  the 
vicinage. 

RAILWAY  EMPLOYES.  — We  favor  legislation 
by  Congress  and  State  Legislatures  to  protect  the  lives 
and  limbs  of  railway  employes  and  those  of  other  haz- 
ardous transportation  companies,  and  denounce  the  in- 
activity of  the  Republican  party,  and  particularly  the 
Republican  Senate,  for  causing  the  defeat  of  measures  bene- 
ficial and  protective  to  this  class  of  wage-workers. 

THE  SWEATING  SYSTEM.— We  are  in  favor  of  the 
enactment  by  the  States  of  laws  for  abolishing  the  noto- 
rious sweating  system,  for  abolishing  contract  convict  labor 


634 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


and  for  prohibiting  the  employment  in  factories  of  children 
under  fifteen  years  of  age. 

SUMPTUARY  LAWS. — We  are  opposed  to  all  sump- 
tuary laws  as  an  interference  with  the  individual  rights  of 
the  citizen. 

FINAL  REQUEST. — Upon  this  statement  of  principles 
and  policies  the  Democratic  party  asks  the  intelligent  judg- 
ment of  the  American  people.  It  asks  a change  of  ad- 
ministration and  a change  of  party  in  order  that  there  may 
be  a change  of  system  and  a change  of  methods,  thus  assur- 
ing the  maintenance,  unimpaired,  of  institutions  under  which 
the  republic  has  grown  great  and  powerful. 

On  the  third  day  of  its  session,  June  23,  1892,  the  Con- 
vention nominated  Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  of  Illinois,  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President. 

RECEPTION  OF  THE  NEWS. 

Promptly,  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  his  nomination,  Mr. 
Cleveland  authorized  the  following  to  be  made  public 
through  Governor  Russell,  of  Massachusetts  : 

“ I should  certainly  be  chargeable  with  dense  insensibility 
if  I were  not  profoundly  touched  by  this  new  proof  of  the 
confidence  and  trust  of  the  great  party  to  which  I belong 
and  whose  mandates  claim  my  loyal  obedience. 

“ I am  confident  that  our  fellow-countrymen  are  ready  to 
receive  with  approval  the  principles  of  true  Democracy,  and 
I cannot  rid  myself  of  the  belief  that  to  win  success  it  is 
only  necessary  to  persistently  and  honestly  advocate  these 
principles. 

“ Differences  of  opinion  and  judgment  in  Democratic 
conventions  are  by  no  means  unwholesome  indications,  but 
it  is  hardly  conceivable  in  view  of  the  importance  of  our 
success  to  the  country  and  to  the  party  that  there  should 
be  anywhere  among  Democrats  any  lack  of  harmonious  and 


Hon.  Roger  Q.  Mills. 

Born  in  Salem,  Kentucky,  in  1832  ; when  seventeen  years  of  age  he 
emigrated  to  Texas;  he  became  a lawyer,  and  when  twenty-seven  years 
of  age  was  elected  to  the  Texas  Legislature;  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
civil  war  he  joined  the  Southern  army  as  Colonel  of  a regiment  of 
infantry ; he  was  wounded  a number  of  times,  though  not  seriously,  and, 
returning  to  his  home  at  Corsicana,  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion ; in  1872  he  was  elected  to  Congress  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and 
has  been  returned  at  every  subsequent  election.  His  majority  at  the 
last  election  was  over  16,000 ; Mr.  Mills  was  always  a tariff  reformer, 
and  he  was  entrusted  by  Speaker  Carlisle  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress  with 
the  task  of  framing  a tariff  bill,  which  was  the  issue  of  the  campaign  of 
1888,  in  which  the  Democrats  were  defeated  ; Mr.  Mills  was  a candi- 
date for  Speaker  for  the  present  House,  but  Mr.  Crisp  secured  the  prize; 
elected  to  U.  S.  Senate,  March  22,  1892,  by  unanimous  vote  of  Texas 
Legislature. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND.  637 

active  effort  to  win  in  the  campaign  which  opens  before  us. 
I have,  therefore,  no  concern  on  that  subject. 

“ It  will  certainly  be  my  constant  endeavor  to  deserve  the 
support  of  every  Democrat.” 

SPREADING  THE  NEWS. 

The  triumph  of  Mr.  Cleveland  within  the  Democratic 
ranks  is  in  many  respects  creditable  to  his  party.  It  clari- 
fies and  simplifies  the  campaign.  It  contributes  to  a sharp, 
clear-cut,  unmistakable  battle  of  principles.  On  the  main 
issue  it  means  no  juggle,  no  evasion,  no  subterfuge. — Phila- 
delphia Press . 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Cleveland  is  the  most  encourag- 
ing political  event  which  has  occurred  in  this  country  since 
the  war. — New  York  Post. 

The  issue  was  clearly  made  between  the  people  and  the 
“ managers.”  The  people  wanted  a man  that  they  could 
trust.  The  “ managers  ” wanted  a man  who  would  do  their 
bidding.  The  people  won.  How  could  it  have  been  other- 
wise ? The  Democratic  party  has  triumphed  over  its 
bosses.  This  is  a great  victory  which  deserves  celebration. 
— Baltimore  Evening  News. 

The  best  Democratic  citizenship  has  spoken  at  Chicago 
as  the  best  Republican  citizenship  spoke  at  Minneapolis. — 
New  York  Times. 

The  triumphant  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  on  the 
first  ballot  in  the  Chicago  Convention  is  a signal  victory  of 
the  people  over  the  managing  and  intriguing  politicians. — 
Atlanta  Journal. 

The  National  Convention  of  the  Democratic  party  at 
Chicago  has  once  more  vindicated  its  claim  to  be  par  excel- 
lence the  people’s  party  of  the  country,  the  best  embodiment 
29 


63S 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


of  its  sterling  common-sense  and  innate  sagacity  as  well  as 
honesty  of  purpose. — Baltimore  Sun. 

Cleveland  is  to-day  the  most  conspicuous  representative 
of  Democracy  in  its  pristine  simplicity,  purity  and  fidelity 
to  the  people,  and  it  is  this  conviction  pervading  the  masses 
of  the  Democratic  voters  in  all  sections  that  asserted  its  om- 
nipotence in  the  Convention  and  compelled  leaders  and 
tricksters  and  professional  spoilsmen  to  bow  to  the  im- 
perious command  of  honest  Democracy. — Philadelphia 
Times. 

“ The  next  President  must  be  a Democrat.” 

We  intend  to  see  that  pledge  fulfilled,  and  to  this  end  we 
invoke  and  expect  to  receive  the  aid  of  all  true  Democrats. 
— New  York  World. 

Grover  Cleveland  will  be  the  next  President  of  the  United 
States. — Charleston,  S.  C.,  News  and  Courier. 

We  expect  Mr.  Cleveland  to  sweep  the  country. — Rich- 
mond Dispatch. 

Now  is  the  time  for  all  Democrats  to  get  together  and 
work  together. — Birmingham,  Ala.,  Age-Journal. 

There  is  victory  in  the  man  and  platform. — Columbus 

Enquirer-Sun. 

Mr.  Cleveland  stands  pre-eminently  for  policies  of  re- 
form. It  was  for  this  he  was  nominated. — Chattanooga 

Times. 

There  is  nothing  artificial  or  insincere  about  the  Cleveland 
movement. — Atlanta  Constitution. 

For  a third  time  Mr.  Cleveland’s  name  will  symbolize  the 
cause  of  pure  and  honest  politics  and  government. — Gal- 
veston-Dallas  News. 

The  triumphant  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  as  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency  is  a marked  honor, 
both  to  the  man  and  to  the  party. — Indianapolis  Sentinel. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


^39 


In  Mr.  Cleveland  the  Democratic  party  has  a leader  whom 
all  Democrats  can  trust ; whom  all  Americans  in  all  parties 
can  trust,  for  whether  they  agree  with  him  or  not  they  know 
that  he  is  a sincere,  candid,  honest,  manly  American ; a man 
of  the  people;  full  of  sympathy  for  the  masses,  with  a 
genuine  American  aversion  to  classes. — St.  Louis  Republic . 

On  Juljr  20,  Mr.  Cleveland  and  Mr.  Stevenson  were  publicly  notified  of 
their  nominations  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York,  by  the  committee 
appointed  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  Cleveland’s  response  weighed  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  party ; alluded  to  its  strength  and  its  sympathy  with  the  peo- 
ple ; inveighed  against  the  burdens  imposed  by  the  tariff  upon  consumers, 
and  the  robbery  of  farmers’  pockets  “by  the  stealthy  hand  of  protection;” 
pointed  to  the  strikes  as  evidence  of  the  falsity  “ that  the  existing  protective 
tariff  is  a boon  to”  the  workingman  ; claimed  that  his  party  was  not  a “de- 
structive party,”  but  in  favor  of  fairness  and  justice;  invited  “opposition  to 
the  death  ” to  Federal  interference  with  State  elections ; appealed  to  Democ- 
racy to  strive  for  success  in  the  campaign. 


M imm 

of  mt 

mm  '-r-  - ; n 


Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson. 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICE 


OF 

Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson. 


Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  the  Democratic  nominee  for 
Vice-President  on  the  ticket  with  Grover  Cleveland,  was 
born  in  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  October  23,  1835.  His 
ancestry  settled  at  a very  early  period  of  Colonial  history  in 
North  Carolina,  and  there  rose  to  distinction,  one  of  them 
being  a signer  of  the  celebrated  Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

His  parents  sought  fortune  in  the  West  and  moved  to 
Kentucky,  settling  in  Christian  county.  They  were  a plain, 
sturdy,  well-to-do  people  who  brought  along  with  them  the 
convictions  that  had  rendered  the  name  famous  for  genera- 
tions, and  which  were  to  give  character  and  fame  to  their 
offspring. 

Young  Stevenson  received  his  preliminary  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  county.  He  was  a youth 
of  more  than  ordinary  promise,  being  industrious,  bright 
and  acquisitive  to  a degree  that  found  him  fitted  for  higher 
studies  at  an  early  age. 

In  1852  his  parents  moved  to  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where 
young  Stevenson  entered  the  Wesleyan  University  and  went 
through  a course  of  study  preparatory  for  college.  He  then 
entered  Centre  College  at  Danville,  Kentucky,  and  com* 

(643) 


644 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


pleted  his  education.  He  stood  well  in  his  classes,  and  was 
a favorite  with  both  fellows  and  professors.  Among  his 
classmates  were  Senator  J.  C.  S.  Blackburn,  Governor  Mc- 
Creary, of  Kentucky,  and  others  who  afterwards  distinguished 
themselves  at  the  bar  and  in  public  life. 

After  graduating  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1858.  He  began  practice  in  Metamora, 
Woodford  county,  Illinois,  and  remained  there  till  1868,  a 
period  of  ten  years.  He  soon  found  himself  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a lucrative  practice  and  in  the  midst  of  a wide  and 
encouraging  popularity.  As  a recognition  of  his  character 
and  talent  he  received  the  appointment  of  Master  in  Chancery 
of  the  Circuit  Court,  which  position  he  occupied  for  a period 
of  four  years.  He  was  then  chosen  District  Attorney,  which 
office  he  held  for  four  years,  and  which  he  administered  with 
ability  and  fidelity. 

During  these  years  he  became  identified  with  politics, 
and  such  had  been  th£  character  of  his  administrations  of 
office  and  such  his  growth  in  popular  estimation  that  the 
people  of  his  district  selected  him  as  a Presidential  Elector 
in  1864.  He  entered  the  campaign  for  General  McClellan 
with  all  the  ardor  of  youth  and  all  the  intensity  of  deep  con- 
viction, and  proved  himself  one  of  the  ablest  of  campaignists. 
His  Democracy  was  of  uncompromising  quality  and  he 
gained  a deep  place  in  the  affections  of  his  party.  His 
industry  was  of  the  most  energetic  and  persevering  type,  and 
in  his  stumping  tour  of  the  State  he  visited  nearly  every 
county. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  District  Attorney  in  1868 
he  moved  to  Bloomington,  111.,  where  he  formed  a law  part- 
nership with  his  cousin,  J.  S.  Ewing,  which  connection  is 
retained  to  date.  This  firm  came  into  the  enjoyment  of  an 
extensive  law  practice,  and  took  rank  with  the  first  in  the 


ADt,AI  K.  STEVENSON. 


645 


State.  The  cases  which  came  under  its  control  were  of 
great  magnitude,  and  not  a few  of  them  proved  to  be  of 
State  and  national  importance.  Mr.  Stevenson  enjoyed  a 
reputation  as  a lawyer  which  any  practitioner  might  envy. 
He  was  recognized  as  able  in  every  branch  of  law,  as  in- 
defatigable in  the  preparation  and  prosecution  of  cases,  and 
as  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  clients.  He  was  an 
eloquent  pleader,  and  commanded  the  respect  of  both  court 
and  jury. 

All  the  while  he  kept  up  his  interest  in  politics  and  con- 
tinually enlarged  his  influence  with  the  masses  of  his  party. 
His  traits  of  fairness  and  frankness,  and  of  unswerving  devo- 
tion to  his  political  principles,  as  well  as  of  adhesion  to  the 
methods  which  insure  party  success,  won  for  him  a strength 
and  popularity  which  augured  well  for  his  future  standing 
in  party  councils. 

When  quite  young  he  married  Miss  Lettie  Green,  the 
handsome  and  accomplished  daughter  of  President  Green, 
of  Centre  College  at  Danville,  Ky.,  a profound  scholar,  and 
a minister  of  high  standing. 

In  1874  Mr.  Stevenson  was  honored  by  his  party  with 
the  nomination  for  Congress  in  the  Bloomington  District. 
Such  a nomination  meant  the  leadership  of  a forlorn  hope, 
for  the  district  was  counted  as  safely  Republican  by  a ma- 
jority of  three  thousand.  The  situation  was  especially 
desperate  at  that  time,  for  his  opponent  was  General  Mc- 
Nulta,  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  stumpers  and 
debaters  in  the  State,  and  who  was  strong  with  his  party. 
But  Stevenson  plunged  into  the  canvass  with  an  ardor  and 
persistency  characteristic  of  him.  He  fought  every  inch  of 
ground  with  bravery  and  ability,  and  made  one  of  the  hot- 
test and  most  interesting  canvasses  of  modern  times.  If  a 
winner,  it  would  be  a surprising  and  glorious  victory.  If 


646 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


defeated,  he  would  go  down  with  his  flag  flying  and  with 
the  admiration  of  friend  and  foe  for  his  gallant  efforts. 
This  campaign  showed  precisely  of  what  stuff  Stevenson 
was  made.  He  was  a Napoleon  in  energy,  a Ney  in  tac- 
tics, a Taylor  in  persistency.  That  the  campaign  grew 
bitter  as  it  grew  excited  was  to  be  expected,  but  it  was  not 
the  fault  of  either  candidate,  so  much  as  the  indiscretion  of 
their  friends.  The  war  was  waged  unremittingly  till  the 
polls  closed. 

During  this  malignant  and  scorching  campaign  Mr. 
Stevenson  was  forced  to  meet  and  demolish  the  charge  that 
he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Union  and  that  he  had 
been  a member  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.  He 
showed  that  he  had  never  been  a member  of  any  society, 
except  the  fraternities  connected  with  his  college,  and  the 
remarkable  result  of  his  campaign  fully  vindicated  him  from 
the  aspersions  cast  upon  him.  Speaking  of  the  malicious 
story  then  circulated  for  the  purpose  of  encompassing  his 
defeat,  he  has  taken  occasion  to  say : — 


“ While  I was  not  in  the  army  I favored  every  method  for 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms  and  gave 
every  action  toward  that  end  my  cordial  sympathy  and 
support.  On  the  4th  day  of  July,  1861, 1 delivered  a eulogy 
on  the  life  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  at  Metamora,  Woodford 
County.  I was  always  an  admirer  of  Douglas  and  agreed 
with  him  as  to  his  position  in  regard  to  the  war.  In  that 
speech  I spoke  firmly  and  unwaveringly  Li  support  of  the 
Union  and  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion.  When 
Colonel  Sidwell,  of  Woodford  County,  set  out  to  raise  a 
regiment  of  Union  soldiers,  I accompanied  him  on  his  mis- 
sion, made  speeches  and  in  every  way  aided  him  in  the 
work,  for  which  service  he  afterwards  gave  me  a written  ex- 
pression of  thanks. 

“ In  1874  I was  elected  to  Congress  by  a large  majority 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


647 


in  this  district,  which  just  before  had  given  3000  Republican 
majority,  and  defeated  General  McNulta,  a gallant  Union 
soldier.  It  is  not  likely  that  this  could  have  been  accom- 
plished by  a man  whose  loyalty  was  doubted,  and  mind  you, 
I was  elected  to  represent  the  people  of  a district  who  had 
once  been  represented  in  Congress  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 
I desire  again  to  state,  as  strongly  as  it  is  possible  to  state, 
that  there  is  not  one  word  of  truth  in  the  charge  that  I was 
disloyal  to  the  Union,  in  thought  or  deed,  or  that  I ever  be- 
longed to  or  sympathized  with  or  knew  of  the  existence  of 
such  an  organization  as  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.” 

The  result  of  this  election  was  astounding  to  both  sides. 
He  had  overcome  quite  three  thousand  opposition  majority 
and  had  turned  it  into  a Democratic  majority  of  nearly 
twelve  hundred.  Such  a revolution  is  seldom  witnessed, 
especially  in  stable  communities.  It  was  largely  a personal 
triumph,  and  it  greatly  augmented  his  fame  as  a politician 
and  his  standing  as  a popular,  lion-hearted  man.  It  gave 
him  a prestige  in  his  party  which  only  needed  cultivation 
and  opportunity  to  establish  him  as  among  its  chief  advisers. 

His  career  in  Congress  was  that  of  a thorough-going 
Democrat.  He  did  not  originate  measures,  but  he  proved 
to  be  a staunch  advocate  of  all  that  was  Democratic,  a safe 
and  shrewd  adviser,  and  a reliable  exponent  of  party 
measures.  He  retired  with  honors,  and  with  a career  that 
greatly  endeared  him  to  his  constituency.  He  had  made  a 
mark  for  industry,  for  courage  in  debate,  for  consistency, 
earnestness  and  ability,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  other 
favors. 

In  1876  his  party  renominated  him  for  Congress.  Again 
he  fought  the  ground  minutely  and  persistently.  But  con- 
ditions had  changed,  and  after  a brilliant  battle  he  was 
forced  to  acknowledge  a defeat.  It  was  one  of  those  defeats, 
however,  which  did  not  diminish  the  glory  of  the  van- 


64S 


ADTAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


quished.  He  lost  nothing  in  the  esteem  of  his  friends  and 
gained  in  the  estimation  of  his  enemies.  The  fates  that  had 
favored  him  proved  fickle.  The  show  had  been  desperate 
from  the  first. 

Such  was  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  party, 
and  such  its  confidence  in  his  ability  to  fight  against  odds, 
that  they  renominated  him  for  Congress  in  1878.  All 
know  the  thankless  character  of  that  undertaking  which  in- 
volves candidacy  in  a district  where  opposition  is  con- 
fidently intrenched.  It  is  the  bearing  of  a flag  in  despair, 
with  no  recompense  except  the  comfort  of  conserving  party 
discipline.  It  is  the  costliest  service  one  can  render,  in  that 
it  is  so  sacrificial  of  the  time  of  the  standard-bearer.  This 
sacrifice  Stevenson  was  willing  to  make.  This  despair  did 
not  impair  his  resolution.  He  entered  the  canvass  with  re- 
newed ardor.  Behind  him  was  a solid  Democracy.  He 
inclined  to  a more  extended  currency,  and  would  certainly 
receive  the  support  of  all  those  who  had  identified  them- 
selves with  the  “ Greenback  ” movement,  then  so  popular, 
and  before  which  both  of  the  great  parties  trembled.  He 
made  a campaign  which  was  active,  brilliant,  convincing, 
and  walked  away  with  the  honors,  having  rolled  up  a ma- 
jority in  his  district  of  nearly  2,000,  carrying  every  county. 
This  result  was  simply  phenomenal,  and  impossible  with 
any  other  man  than  General  Stevenson. 

It  must  here  be  said  that  the  title  “ General  ” is  merely 
honorary.  He  did  not  originate  it,  nor  does  he  care  for  its 
use.  It  came  to  him  through  others,  and  if  it  has  allusion 
to  one  characteristic  more  than  another,  it  may  be  to  that 
happy  knack  of  marshalling  his  forces  in  a desperate  cam- 
paign and  of  fighting  his  political  battles  without  reference 
to  the  comfort  of  the  enemy.  When  Grant  came  East  and 
was  asked  his  opinion  of  the  battles  of  the  Potomac  he 


ADLAI  n.  STEVENSON. 


649 


could  find  no  fault  with  their  plans  but  laconically  re- 
marked, “They  don’t  appear  to  have  been  fought  out.” 
Stevenson’s  battles  are  not  open  to  this  objection.  They 
were  not  only  skilfully  planned  but  always  fought  out.  The 
heroic  abides  in  him.  He  could  not  be  half  of  a Democrat 
if  he  tried. 

His  career  in  Congress  for  his  second  term  duplicated  his 
first  for  industry,  consistency  and  pertinacity.  If  not  as 
showy  as  others,  he  was  true,  and  his  party  knew  exactly 
where  to  find  him.  He  retired  once  more  with  honors,  and 
such  a confidence  on  the  part  of  his  friends  as  that  forget- 
fulness was  out  of  the  question. 

In  1880  he  was  again  nominated  for  Congress.  But 
political  conditions  had  changed  since  his  last  election  and 
the  times  were  unpropitious.  The  “ Greenback  ” swell  had 
subsided,  and  his  chief  reliance  must  be  on  a straight  party 
vote  in  a hopelessly  Republican  district.  But  he  allowed 
nothing  to  go  by  default.  He  fought  with  desperation  and 
kept  his  party  lines  intact.  His  defeat  was  accomplished 
only  after  herculean  effort  on  the  part  of  his  foes  and  by 
much  less  than  a normal  majority.  Defeat  occasioned  no 
loss  of  prestige ; if  anything  it  fixed  him  firmer  in  the  af- 
fections and  councils  of  his  party. 

In  1882  Mr.  Stevenson  again  yielded  to  the  desire  of  his 
party  and  became  a candidate  for  Congress  on  the  straight 
Democratic  ticket.  He  saw  from  the  beginning  the  des- 
perate character  of  the  undertaking,  for  political  matters  had 
resumed  their  old  ruts,  and  the  possibility  of  drawing  from 
the  enemy  was  remote.  Nevertheless  he  made  a rattling 
campaign  and  called  forth  all  the  fighting  qualities  of  his 
opponents.  He  was  defeated  by  the  normal  majority  of  the 
district,  which  might  be  said  to  average  about  2700,  in  an 
off  year. 


650 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


On  his  retiracy  from  Congress  in  1881  he  resumed  the 
practice  of  the  law,  which  he  conducted  with  success  and 
profit,  as  before.  But  his  interest  in  politics  did  not  cease. 
He  was  consulted  by  the  party  leaders  in  his  State,  and  was 
regarded  as  the  ablest  of  organizers  and  the  most  cour- 
ageous of  workers  and  exponents.  In  1884  he  was  elected  a 
delegate  to  the  Democratic  National  Convention  at  Chicago, 
where  he  made  most  favorable  impression  by  earnestness  of 
speech  and  commanding  personal  presence. 

By  virtue  of  his  services  at  this  Convention,  of  his  excel- 
lent standing  in  his  community,  of  his  conceded  legal  and 
administrative  ability,  he  was  appointed  First  Assistant  Post- 
master-General under  the  Cleveland  Administration,  July 
6,  1885.  An  important  function  of  this  office  is  the  appoint- 
ment of  postmasters,  belbw  the  grade  of  Presidential  ap- 
pointees. It  is,  therefore,  easy  to  see  that  the  main  duty  is 
one  of  great  delicacy,  yet  of  momentous  importance.  It  re- 
quires great  care  and  discrimination,  wonderful  patience  and 
pertinacity,  and,  as  custom  has  it,  an  amount  of  fearlessness 
and  party  devotion  which  few  men  can  exercise,  amid  a 
harrowing  environment.  Duty  overdone  is  as  perilous  as 
duty  underdone ; and  to  measure  the  exact  amount  of  duty 
requires  discrimination  of  an  exalted  order. 

Mr.  Stevenson  came  up  to  the  full  standard  of  an  able  and 
uncompromising  official.  He  had  full  grasp  of  the  situation, 
was  painstaking  and  industrious,  conscientious  in  his  desire 
to  better  the  service.  If  removals  and  appointments  were 
frequent,  he  had  excellent  precedent  for  his  action.  If  in  the 
course  of  his  administration  he  brought  about  a change  in 
the  political  complexion  of  the  service,  his  action  had  the 
sanction  of  time-honored  custom  and  met  the  demands  of 
his  party.  The  quality  of  his  own  politics  had  always  been 
of  the  sterling  type,  and  his  sense  of  both  duty  and  pro- 


Hon.  Arthur  P.  Gorman. 


Born  in  Howard  co.,  Md.,  March  11,  1839;  appointed  Senate  page, 
1852,  and  continued  in  service  till  1866 ; served  as  Collector  of  Internal 
Revenue  for  Fifth  Maryland  District,  1866-69;  elected  as  Democrat  to 
Maryland  Legislature,  November,  1869.  Re-elected  1871,  and  became 
Speaker  of  House;  elected  to  State  Senate,  1875;  re-elected  in  1879; 
elected  to  United  States  Senate,  1880;  re-elected,  1886  and  1892; 
prominent  exponent  of  Democratic  thought  and  recognized  leader ; 
name  familiar  in  connection  with  the  Presidency;  ability  as  an  organ- 
izer conceded  by  all;  member  of  Committees  on  Appropriations,  Com- 
merce, Inter-State  Commerce,  Printing,  etc. ; a director  of  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Canal  Company. 


(651) 


3 

Of  !8t 
flutist  of  jLiisns 


ADLAI  B.  STEVENSON. 


653 


priety  would  have  been  outraged  if  he  had  not  employed 
the  power  and  opportunity  at  his  disposal  to  perfect  the  ser- 
vice through  agents  in  harmony  with  his  own  and  the  polit- 
ical views  of  his  Chief. 

He  proved  to  be  an  affable  and  popular  official  in  a 
place  full  of  embarrassments.  He  earned  the  respect  of  all 
his  subordinates  and  associates,  and  the  confidence  of  all  his 
superiors.  He  held  his  position  with  honor  and  daily 
growing  popularity  till  the  end  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  term, 
when  he  retired  to  resume  his  profession,  with  the  best 
wishes  of  all  with  whom  he  had  been  connected,  whose 
numbers  were  legion,  and  with  the  proud  consciousness 
that  he  had  left  the  postal  service  of  the  land  in  a better 
condition  than  he  found  it. 

Upon  his  retiracy  Mr.  Stevenson  not  only  resumed  his 
profession,  but  greatly  enlarged  his  business  connections. 
Besides  his  interest  in  other  substantial  affairs,  he  was  made 
President  of  the  Interstate  Building  and  Loan  Association 
of  Bloomington,  which  institution  was  incorporated  and 
started  in  1889. 

Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson  is  of  tall,  well-proportioned, 
commanding  figure,  not  inclined  to  corpulency;  his  features 
are  regular  and  his  face  expressive ; his  forehead  is  high  and 
well  shaped  ; his  hair  is  light  and  rather  thin  ; his  eyes  are 
blue  and  keen  ; his  moustache  is  light  colored.  He  has  an 
agreeable  manner,  and  his  voice  is  pleasant  in  conversation. 
In  public  address  his  voice  is  clear  and  penetrating.  The 
nervousness  noticeable  when  he  begins  to  speak  passes 
away  and  is  entirely  lost  in  his  earnestness.  He  stands 
high  as  an  orator  and  debater,  and  as  a pleader  at  the  bar 
he  ranks  with  the  best  in  his  State.  In  society  he  is  dig- 
nified and  graceful.  His  hand-shake  is  warm  and  assuring, 


1 


654 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


and  he  has  that  happy  faculty  of  remembering  names  per- 
fectly, which  counts  for  so  much  with  men  in  public  life. 

He  is,  like  Cleveland,  an  adherent  of  the  Presbyterian  de- 
nomination, and  in  his  private  life  a model  of  morality,  with 
no  bad  habits.  He  is  devoted  to  his  family  and  his  family 
is  devoted  to  him.  In  Bloomington,  where  he  lives,  in  a 
modest  but  thoroughly  comfortable  house,  as  in  Washing- 
ton, where  he  never  felt  rich  enough  to  keep  house  or  enter- 
tain, he  is  most  popular  with  those  who  know  him  best. 

One  of  the  last  official  acts  of  Mr.  Cleveland  was  to 
nominate  Mr.  Stevenson  for  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  but  the  Republican  Senate  failed 
to  act  upon  this  nomination,  and  it  fell  through  with  the  end 
of  the  administration.  In  1877  Mr.  Hayes  honored  him 
with  the  appointment  of  a place  on  the  Board  to  inspect  the 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  The  recent  Illinois 
Democratic  State  Convention  elected  him  one  of  the  dele- 
gates at  large  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention  at 
Chicago,  and  he  was  therefore  a member  of  the  body  which 
was  to  confer  further  honors  on  himself. 

Though  Mr.  Stevenson’s  name  had  been  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  Vice-Presidency  for  some  time  before 
the  Chicago  Convention,  other  names  appeared  to  be  more 
prominent.  After  the  Convention  assembled,  and  a com- 
parison of  notes  had  been  had,  it  was  generally  conceded 
that  the  nomination  would  go  to  Hon.  Isaac  P.  Gray,  of 
. Indiana.  Geographically  he  occupied  a “ coign  of  vantage.’* 
Consideration  of  his  name,  and  even  the  inducement  of  a 
nomination,  operated  as  a cohesive  force  upon  the  Indiana 
delegation,  and  perhaps  influenced  them  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Cleveland.  At  any  rate,  as  affairs  shaped  up  in  the  Con- 
vention, Mr.  Gray’s  name  was  most  conspictipusly  before  it 
till  the  hour  of  making  nominations  came.  Then  came  his 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON 


655 


period  of  weakness.  The  geographic  idea  lost  its  force,  and 
other  questions  of  expediency  arose,  among  which  was  the 
one  that  Illinois  was,  equally  with  Indiana,  a doubtful  State, 
and  might  be  carried  by  a man  of  Mr.  Stevenson’s  wonder- 
ful energy,  popularity  and  organizing  ability.  But  whether 
this  were  so  or  not,  his  name  at  any  rate  would  carry 
greater  weight  throughout  the  land,  and  round  out  the 
ticket  with  a more  perfect  symmetry. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  Convention’s  session,  June  23, 
1892,  the  roll  was  called  for  nominations  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  Arkansas  yielded  to  Indiana,  and  the  name  of 
Hon.  Isaac  P.  Gray  was  placed  in  nomination  by  Hon.  John 
E.  Lamb,  in  a pleasing  speech  and  amid  much  applause. 
When  Colorado  was  called,  she  yielded  to  Illinois,  when 
ex-Congressman  Worthington  arose,  amid  general  cheering, 
and  presented  the  name  of  Hon.  Adlai  E.  Stevenson.  He 
spoke  in  part  as  follows : 

“ Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow-Delegates  : — Illinois  has 
presented  no  Presidential  candidate  to  this  Convention. 
But  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  for  the  second  highest  place  in 
the  gift  of  the  people,  it  has  a candidate  so  fully  equipped 
by  nature  and  education  that  it  feels  that  it  would  be  a po- 
litical fault  to  fail  to  urge  his  name  for  nomination. 

“ He  is  a big-bodied,  big-hearted,  big-brained  man  ; a man 
of  commanding  presence,  of  dignified  mien : a man  whose 
courtesy  in  his  every-day  manners  is  rarely  equalled  and 
never  excelled ; a man  who  in  the  administration  of  his  du- 
ties in  the  last  Democratic  Administration  was  the  beau 
ideal  of  an  honest,  honorable,  useful  and  efficient  Demo- 
cratic office-holder,  like  his  great  leader. 

“ Will  you  help  us  give  the  twenty-four  electoral  votes 
to  Grover  Cleveland  ? If  you  will  vote  for  the  man  whose 
name  I now  present,  a man  who  does  not  have  to  get  a cer- 
tificate from  a labor  organization  to  prove  that  he  is  a friend 
of  the  people  [applause]  ; a man  that  we  all  love — give  us 
Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  of  Illinois.”  [Prolonged  applause.] 


656 


ADEAI  E.  STEVENSON. 


This  address  was  received  with  vociferous  applause  and  it 
was  easy  to  understand  that  the  nomination  had  opened  a 
new  trend  of  sentiment  in  the  Convention.  The  nomination 
was  seconded  by  Kentucky  and  North  Carolina. 

The  names  of  Chief-Justice  Allen  B.  Morse,  of  Michigan, 
and  Hon.  John  L.  Mitchell,  of  Wisconsin,  were  also  placed 
in  nomination,  but  it  was  plain  that  the  contest  was  to  lie 
between  Stevenson  and  Gray. 

The  balloting  showed  the  following  figures  : — Stevenson, 
402 ; Gray,  343 ; Morse,  86 ; Mitchell,  45  ; Watterson,  26. 

But  before  this  result  was  announced,  Iowa  was  recog- 
nized and  changed  its  twenty-six  votes  from  Watterson  to 
Stevenson.  This  started  the  stampede  and  Montana  threw 
her  six  votes  to  Stevenson,  followed  by  Nebraska  and  Ne- 
vada who  gave  their  solid  vote. 

Ohio  changed  forty-six  votes  to  Stevenson.  Oregon 
changed  eight  votes  to  Stevenson.  Tennessee  changed  to 
Stevenson.  Texas  changed  to  Stevenson.  This  was  suffi- 
cient to  nominate  Stevenson,  and  on  motion  the  rules  were 
suspended  and  he  was  nominated  by  acclamation. 

After  his  nomination  General  Stevenson  held  an  informal 
reception  at  the  Palmer  House,  and  was  warmly  congratu- 
lated by  a host  of  his  friends  and  supporters,  who  regarded 
his  success  as  propitious  of  a larger  success  in  November. 

On  the  reception  of  the  news  at  his  home  in  Blooming- 
ton, the  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed  throughout  the  entire 
county  among  the  people  of  all  parties,  and  preparations  for 
an  elaborate  greeting,  on  his  return  home,  were  at  once 
begun. 

The  country  accepted  the  nomination  as  an  unusually 
strong  one,  and  interpreted  the  entire  action  of  the  Conven- 
tion as  the  wisest  possible,  every  line  of  political  thought 
being  considered.^ 


